CHENNAI: Often treated with contempt and disdain, ragpickers rummage through waste to eke out a living. Most of them live and die on the street. The story of Prabhavathi (60), who was found dead on a pavement in Otteri 45 days ago was similar, but what no one knew is that she had saved almost `2 lakh and seven sovereigns of gold among the waste in her makeshift house. Even her sisters were unaware and were living in a platform.
Prabhavathi (60) lived with her sisters Rajeswari (62) and Vijayalakshmi (58) on a pavement in Otteri. On June 25, Prabhavathi was found dead. Her sisters begged for help from the public, but in vain. Eventually, inspector Rajeswari from the Secretariat Colony police station performed the last rites.
“The sisters have a makeshift structure in Otteri but on Wednesday I found them staying on a pavement. When asked, they said that the house is filled with garbage and waste picked by them. We, as a team, pitched in some money and sought help of the corporation,” said inspector Rajeswari.
While clearing the waste piled up in sacks, they found a pot full of coins and another sackful of currencies. Police were also surprised to find seven-sovereign jewels. The money was counted and it amounted to around Rs 2 lakh, apart from soiled currencies of Rs 500 and 1,000 denomination for the value of Rs 40,000. Inspector Rajeswari said that the cash and jewels will be handed over to the sisters after the house is completely cleaned.