Mumbai: A man, who lost his wallet carrying Rs 900 cash in a local train here in 2006, was in for a pleasant surprise when the police informed him that they have traced it after 14 years and returned him part of the amount. Hemant Padalkar had lost his wallet while travelling in a Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus-Panvel local train in 2006, a Government Railway Police (GRP) official said Sunday.
In April this year, he received a call from GRP, Vashi, informing that his wallet was discovered. However, he could not then go to collect his wallet because of the coronavirus-enforced lockdown. After the restrictions got eased, Padalkar, a resident of Panvel in neighbouring Navi Mumbai township, recently went to the GRP office at Vashi to receive the wallet that had a part of the cash.
“My wallet at that time contained Rs 900, including a Rs 500 note which was later demonetised (in 2016). The Vashi GRP returned Rs 300 to me. They deducted Rs 100 for stamp paperwork and said the remaining Rs 500 would be returned after exchanging the scrapped currency note with a new one,” Padalkar said.
He said when he went to the GRP office, there were many who had come to collect their stolen money, amounting into several thousands in demonetised currency, and wondered how they would get it back.
Padalkar was elated to get his money back. A GRP official said those who stole Padalkar’s wallet were arrested sometime back. “We recovered Padalkar’s wallet containing Rs 900 from the accused. We handed over Rs 300 to Padalkar and the remaining Rs 500 would be returned to him after the currency note is exchanged with a new one,” he added.
PNN/Agencies