In PICS! Mumbai: Man’s wallet lost in local train found by cops after 14 years

A man who lost his wallet in a Mumbai local train in 2006 was surprised when the cops informed him that they found it after 14 years.

Hemant Padalkar had lost his wallet while travelling in a Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus-Panvel local train in 2006, a Government Railway Police (GRP) official said on Sunday.

In April, Padalkar, a resident of Panvel in neighbouring Navi Mumbai township, received an unexpected call from GRP, Vashi, informing him that the property he lost 14 years ago was found.

However, Padalkar could not collect his wallet then because of the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

After the easing of lockdown restrictions, Padalkar went to the GRP office at Vashi where he was given part of the money that was in the wallet.

"My wallet at that time contained Rs 900, including a Rs 500 note which was later demonetised (in 2016). The Vashi GRP returned Rs 300 to me. They deducted Rs 100 for stamp paper work and said the remaining Rs 500 would be returned after exchanging the scrapped currency note with a new one," Padalkar told PTI.

He added that when he went to the GRP office, there were many people who had come to collect their stolen money, amounting into several thousands in demonetised currency and wondered how they would get it back.

Padalkar was happy to receive his money back.

A GRP official said that those who stole Padalkar's wallet were arrested sometime back. He added, "We recovered Padalkar's wallet containing Rs 900 from the accused.

We handed over Rs 300 to Padalkar and the remaining Rs 500 would be returned to him after the currency note is exchanged with a new one."