A mind-boggling 25,000 metric tons of onions have gone missing in India. That's a pile of stinkers the weight of a WWII aircraft carrier or 315 times the weight of an average plane.
The theft occurred in Madhya Pradesh, a large state in central India, according to India Today.
The heist follows the Mandsaur agitation of June, in which six people were killed when law enforcement fired on protesting farmers demanding better prices for their produce.
Following the four days of violence that month, the Madhya Pradesh government began procuring onions at 12.5 cents per kilogram from farmers, at a time onions were being sold for as little as 1.5 cents per kilogram in Madhya Pradesh.
The state government had procured 876,000 metric tons of onions, but the selling agency, Civil Supplies Corporation, only received 851,000 metric tons. So where did the rest of the 25,000 metric tons of onions go? No one is ‘fessing up.
The missing onions are thought to be valued at $200 million.
A spokesperson at the Bhopal Collector's Office, Sudam Khade, has already submitted an inquiry.
"There were reports that some stock went missing, or there is no record of some, an inquiry has been ordered and action will be taken only after the inquiry is complete," Khade told India Today.
It will take the Indian government some time to peel through all the layers of this mystery.
