India's lockdown rules allows vehicles delivering food items to cross state borders. Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

In a desperate attempt to reach home during India’s strict coronavirus lockdown, a man traveled more than 800 miles home disguised as an onion seller, only to be sent to quarantine by the local police after reaching his destination.

According to police, Prem Murti Pandey, an employee at Mumbai's airport, loaded a truck with 28 tons of onion and traveled around 1,400 kilometers (869 miles) from Mumbai to his home in Prayagraj, northern India.

“I was stuck in Mumbai. Given the number of cases being reported in the city, I was scared and hence I had no option but to return home,” Pandey told CNN, speaking from the quarantine center.

So Pandey decided to rent a truck, hire a driver and disguise himself. "We bought the onions from a vegetable market near Mumbai, and using the excuse of produce delivery, we crossed three states to finally reach home on Friday after traveling for three days," according to Pandey.

India's lockdown rules allows vehicles delivering food items to cross state borders. Pandey was sent to quarantine after his actions surfaced on Saturday, Arvind Kumar Singh, a senior police official in Prayagraj told CNN.

“He has not shown any symptoms of coronavirus but he has been kept in a quarantine center as a precautionary measure for two weeks,” the police official added.

Maharashtra -- home to India's financial capital Mumbai -- is the worst-affected state in the outbreak, with more than 28% of the country's coronavirus cases reported there.