Rats chew through ₹1.2m an Indian woman saved to buy gold

Uttar Pradesh: A woman in northern India was left stunned after discovering that rats had chewed through a large portion of nearly ₹1.2 million in cash that she had secretly saved for years to buy gold jewellery, according to local media reports.

The woman, from Gonda in Uttar Pradesh, had reportedly been setting aside small amounts of money since 2019 without telling her husband and storing the cash in a trunk at home.

Over the years, the savings grew to nearly ₹12 lakh, or ₹1.2 million. She had planned to use the money to buy gold jewellery and believed the cash was safely stored away.

But when she opened the trunk on August 21, she found bundles of currency notes torn apart and gnawed by rats, with pieces of damaged cash scattered inside.

A video showing the woman and her husband sorting through the damaged notes subsequently circulated widely on social media. The couple attempted to separate currency that appeared salvageable from notes that had been severely damaged.

It was not immediately clear how much of the money could ultimately be recovered, although reports said a significant portion of the savings had been affected.