Pix: Ragpicker finds Rs 8.5L gold only to return it!

A 17-year-old ragpicker from Dombivli handed over gold jewellery worth Rs 8.5 lakh to the police, which was mistakenly thrown in a bin.

Alka Sarode was also felicitated for her honesty by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and Home Minister R R Patil on Thursday. She was also rewarded Rs 10,000 by the family that owned the ornaments.

Vandana Ulkande, 65, and her husband Vijay, 67, had decided to keep the gold ornaments in a tiffin box in the dustbin before they visited their village in Kolhapur. They wanted to keep the valuables hidden because of the alarming rise in break-ins in Dombivli recently.

However, on returning from Kolhapur they forgot to remove the gold and the bin was given to the sweeper the next day.

It was only in the evening that Vandana remembered about the valuables. They inquired with the sweeper who was clueless and then lodged a police complaint.

The next day, Alka found the ornaments at a dumping ground and on realising that someone had discarded it by mistake approached the local police. The police contacted the Ulkandes, who identified their jewellery.

Sarode was also felicitated in the presence of Deputy Commissioner of Police Manoj Patil, Kalyan-Dombivli region.