The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : He proves Mr. Honest

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Sunday, Jan 18, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

He proves Mr. Honest

S. Vijay Kumar

Driver hands over to police Rs. 3. 5 lakh left by a passenger

A. Babu

CHENNAI: When it came to money and honesty, this poor autorickshaw driver chose the latter.

A. Babu, 48, of Vyasarpadi, found a bag containing Rs.3.50 lakh in the rear seat of his autorickshaw on Friday night. He handed it over to the Vyasarpadi police.

Mr. Babu said he drove a customer from Parry’s Corner to the Head Post Office on Anna Salai at around 8 p.m. Only after he moved a little away did he notice the bag.

Attempts fail

“When attempts to locate the customer in the locality failed, I decided to hand over the bag containing wads of cash in the denomination of Rs.1,000 and Rs.500 to the police. The money could have been arranged for some emergency…like medical expense or marriage. Who knows,” he said.

Appreciating the honesty of Mr. Babu, Commissioner of Police K. Radhakrishnan said the driver would be honoured at a function scheduled for Sunday in the Armed Reserve Grounds. “We have to acknowledge such good work. Of late, there have been a few instances of autorickshaw drivers having demonstrated their honesty. There seems a yearning for an image makeover,” he said.

This is not the first instance in which the valuables were returned to owners. A few weeks ago, an autorickshaw driver, who dropped a passenger at his residence in K.K. Nagar from the international airport came back after sometime only to return an expensive new laptop that the customer had left behind.

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