Bhubaneswar: Amid the skyrocketing prices of tomatoes across the country, a man allegedly decamped with 2 kg of tomatoes worth Rs 280 after pledging two street children, whom he described as his sons, with a shopkeeper in Odisha’s Cuttack city.
The incident was reported Chhatra Bazaar.
According to sources, the fraudster took the boys aged about 11 years from Sikharchandi slum in Bhubaneswar to purchase a fridge in Cuttack. Though he had paid them Rs 10 and assured them of another Rs 300 each, they had no inkling about his plans. He identified the kids as his son and asked them to pick fresh vegetables at a crowded shop there. He then got the vendor pack 2 kg tomatoes and tactfully fled from the spot on the plea to get his wallet from his bike.
When the man did not return for 30 minutes, the vendor inquired about him from the two boys and was shocked to know that the man was not their father. He, however, let them off without reporting the matter to police.
DCP (Cuttack) Pinak Mishra told TOI that he would ask the Malgodown police to look into the matter. “We will examine the CCTV footage to get clues about the man,” he said.
