______________________________. This happened after a lorry laden with tomatoes worth 21 lakh rupees went missing. One of the three traders who had sent his tomatoes on the lorry said that they had lost contact with the driver in Nashik and that his GPS had been switched off. The traders were not sure if the truck had been hijacked or if the driver had stolen the tomatoes. This is the third time tomatoes have been stolen following the rise of tomato prices to Rs.150 per kg.

The passage talks about a tomato theft incident in which a lorry carrying tomatoes worth ₹21 lakh went missing, and the discussion proceeds from there. The blank, which is the first sentence of the passage, should set up the context for this tomato theft incident. It should be one that explains the immediate reaction, or the background( why tomatoes were valuable enough to steal).

On reading all the options and placing them in the blank one by one, it is evident that option A:[Panic and confusion reigned among traders in the Kolar agricultural produce market] is the best fit, because it introduces the emotional state of traders before explaining why (ie the missing lorry), and sets up a context for the diagolue to ensue. 

The other options do not fit that well. Option B:[A couple took the hijacked vehicle to a nearby market and sold the tomatoes there] is too specific and assumes the results before even mentioning the problem. Opening statements are usually broad and not too specific, which is not the case for this statement. Option C:[Nashik overtook Kolar as the biggest tomato market in Asia] is way off topic, as the entire discussion is about theft, not market positions or rankings. Option D:[Three traders jointly hired a lorry to carry tomatoes]is redundant in the sense that this detail anyways appears later. The opening needs a broader statement.

Hence, option A is the best choice.