Get lessons in honesty from Mumbai ragpicker who finds a ‘treasure’ and returns it to its owner

A Mumbai ragpicker is earning praises for returning a wallet with Rs 33,000, which he found on a railway track, to its owner.

Mumbai, April 6: Even richest of the rich can't resist the temptation of "looting" money belonging to others. Isn't that what we saw in the recent times? It is because of people like billionaires Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya, who conveniently stole the money of taxpayers and fled the country to enjoy luxurious lives abroad, that we have almost forgotten what it means to be honest and upright in today's world.

But then there are people like Dipchand Gupta, 30, a ragpicker from Thane, Mumbai, who while collecting waste from the railway tracks near the Thane station got hold of a "treasure" on Monday, literally. It was a purse that had debit and credit cards, and a sum of Rs 33,000.

The money inside the purse can easily take care of a lot of his requirements for a few months. However, Gupta, without thinking twice went to the Thane stationmaster BK Mahindhar and gave the purse with all its belongings inside it.

Mahindhar found the owner of the lost treasure, Akshara Mokashi (22), a resident of Thane. After getting her lost purse, where she had kept all her monthly salary and other valuables, Mokashi could not stop thanking Gupta and praising his honesty. As a token of appreciation, Mokashi and Mahindhar gave Gupta a sum of Rs 2,500.

"Gupta came to me and gave me the purse, telling me that he had found it on the track near platform number 5. Quite simply and innocently he said to me 'There is a lot of money inside it; please take care'. There was a total of Rs 33,000 cash, and debit and credit cards in the purse," Mahindhar was quoted as saying by Midday.com.

"We found out that it belonged to Akshara Mokashi, a Thane resident, and immediately called her up. When she came to the station to take it, she told us she had lost it around 9 pm; thanks to Gupta, she got it back within an hour. Before she left, Gupta even warned her to be more careful in the future, especially while travelling in crowded trains with such a huge amount of cash," another railway official told Midday.com.

After learning that her lost purse has been found, an overwhelmed Mokashi broke down.

"I realised I'd lost my purse when I got down from the autorickshaw. I called my friend to search for it near the station. We retraced my steps and looked in all the spots I had stopped, but, in the meantime, the ragpicker found it and gave it to a railway official. I am really thankful to him. It's my hard-earned money. I couldn't stop crying when I got the call that it had been found," Mokashi told Midday.com.

The moral of the story, in today's world when rich and powerful are cheating the nation, a poor ragpicker taught us a big lesson in honesty.