TIRUPATI: A jeep driver, who found a bag containing 10 totals of gold, cash and other valuable documents left behind in his vehicle by a pilgrim, showed his honesty by promptly handing it over to police. Later, the police traced the rightful owner of the bag containing gold and other valuables worth Rs 4.5 lakh. According to Tirupati police, B Pandeswari of Sivagiri Taluk in Erode district of Tamil Nadu, boarded a jeep at Tirumala to go to Tirupati railway station after visiting the temple. She got down from the jeep, leaving behind her handbag in the vehicle.
Jeep driver Narayana who found the bag in his vehicle after she left, immediately handed over it to the Command Control Centre and informed the matter to police constable Nagaraju at Tirupati railway station.
The constable, in turn, informed the matter to traffic DSP Mallikarjuna and Inspector Suresh Kumar.
The Command Control Centre passed the information to police teams at Tirumala and other places to trace the rightful owner of the bag.
Even as the police started search for the owner, Pandeswari rushed back to Tirumala and sought the help of police to find out her missing bag containing gold and valuables. “We crosschecked the contents of the bag with the details provided by the woman and said that the bag is in the safe custody of the police and asked her to come to Tirupati,” a police official said.
Traffic CI Suresh Kumar told TNIE that the job to identify the owner of the handbag had become easier for the police due to the honesty shown by the jeep driver. Speaking to TNIE, Narayana said, “I have returned bags left behind in my vehicle to the rightful owners on several occasions. As I did not have any information pertaining to the passenger who left behind the bag, I handed over it to the Command Control Centre to ensure that it reaches the rightful owner,’’ he said. The bag was handed over to Pandeswari by Narayana in the presence of Tirupati Urban SP.