India: Man with Rs3(Dh0.16) in pocket returns Rs40,000(Dh2077.86) lying at bus stop

He had only Rs3 (Dh0.16) in his pocket, but, when Dhanaji Jagdale from the Indian state of Maharashtra found Rs40,000 (Dh2077.86) in cash lying at a bus stop on Diwali, he had to return it to its rightful owner.

And, that’s not it. When he returned the money, the rightful owner wanted to reward him with Rs1000 (Dh52). However, Jagdale only accepted Rs7 (Dh0.36) for bus fare to get to his native Pingali village.

According to a report by the Press Trust of India (PTI) “I had gone to Dahiwadi for Diwali for some work and returned to the bus stop. I found a bundle of notes nearby. I asked people around and finally found a man distressed and looking for something. I soon found out the cash bundle belonged to him,” Jagdale said.

“He told me the bundle contained Rs40,000. He had collected it for his wife’s surgery. He wanted to give me Rs1,000 but I took only Rs7 as the bus fare to my village is Rs10 and I only had Rs3 in my pocket,” Jagdale added.

The 54-year-old from the Satara village makes ends meet by doing odd jobs and is earning praise on social media for his act of honesty.

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The incident was first reported by Facebook user Sailesh Mishra from India, who narrated the entire story as he had heard from a rickshaw puller.

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After the news went viral and was picked up by Indian media outlets, Jagdale was honoured by local politicians and several other organisations, but continued to refuse to accept any cash awards.

“I think by taking someone’s money, one would not get satisfaction. The only message I want to spread is that people should live honestly,” he said according to the PTI report.