A 17-year-old ragpicker from Dombivli surprised the police and residents on Monday by returning gold jewellery worth Rs8.50 lakh she had found in a tiffin box at a dumping ground.
The couple, to whom the ornaments belonged, gave Alka Sable Rs 10,000 as reward.
When Vandana Ulkande, 62, and her husband Vinay, 67, residents of Vaidaant Tower in Dombivli (West), decided to visit their native place in Kolhapur, they kept their gold ornaments in a tiffin box inside the kitchen dustbin. They were worried as there had been several house break-ins in the area recently.
However, when they returned on March 7, they forgot to retrieve the box, and their daughter-in-law gave the dustbin to the sweeper the next day.
That evening, Vandana remembered she had not removed the box from the dustbin and went looking for it. They inquired with the sweeper and others and finally approached Vishnunagar police station and lodged a complaint.
PI Arun Sonawane of Vishnunagar police station, said, “We questioned more than 50 people, including sweepers, hawkers, and ragpickers. On Monday, a woman ragpicker came to us saying her daughter Alka had found a tiffin box containing gold ornaments.”