Amid the spiralling onion prices, a farmer in Maharashtra’sNashik district has complained that his stock of the key kitchen staple worth around Rs 1 lakh has been stolen by unidentified persons, police said on Tuesday.

Onion grower Rahul Bajirao Pagar approached the police on Monday, saying he had kept a ‘summer stock’ of 25 tonne onions in 117 plastic crates at his store house in Kalwan taluka, police inspector Pramod Wagh said.

However, on Sunday evening, he found the entire stock worthnearly Rs 1 lakh missing, Pagar said in the complaint.Based on his complaint, acase of theft has been registered and search is on for his stock in localmarkets as well as in neighbouring Gujarat, Wagh said.

The summer onion stocks are being auctioned at theAgriculture Produce MarketCommittee (APMC) here for around Rs 3,500 to Rs 5,000per quintal (per 100 kg), a source said.Meanwhile in another incident, someunidentified persons allegedly mixed urea (fertiliser) in the onion stock offarmer Vishnu Aher in Bhaur village, an official at Devla police station saidThefarmer in his complaint alleged that the mischief resulted in rotting of about120 tonnes of his onions worth Rs 5 lakh, he said. Retail prices of onion haveshot up to Rs 70 to Rs 80 per kg in New Delhi and other parts of the countryowing to supply disruption in the wake of excess monsoon rains in major growingstates, according to sources.