Sunshine story: Vegetable seller returns Rs 12 lakh gold to woman

When Nanda Ugle, 35, visited her bank on Monday to deposit gold jewellery, she had little clue that she'd witness the kindness of a stranger first-hand. She was completing the formalities to access her locker at Bank of Maharashtra in Tardeo, when she found that the bag in which she had kept her gold jewellery worth Rs 12 lakh, had gone missing.

Sonawane traced owner through phone number in passbook. Pic/ Bipin Kokate

After enquiring with bank officials, a visibly terrified Ugle, rushed to the Gamdevi police station to file a complaint, when she received an unexpected call from a vegetable vendor, Prakash Sonawane, 60, who apologised for mistaking her bag for his. He returned the jewellery to her, less than an hour after it had been misplaced.

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Case of mistaken identity
Sonawane, a resident of MP Mill Compound in Tardeo, has a vegetable stall at Nana Chowk nearGrant Road. "We also deliver vegetables to our customers' home," he said.

On Monday, Sonawane went to Gamdevi area on a similar errand, to deliver vegetables to an 80-year-old customer. In return, he received a cheque of Rs 237. "I took the cheque and directly went to Bank of Maharashtra to deposit it. While I was filling the slip, I put my cloth bag of veggies on the counter," recalled Sonawane.

In a hurry to leave for home, Sonawane reached out for his bag and walked out of the bank. At home, when his wife was emptying the contents of the bag, she found a lot of gold jewellery inside it. "I was shocked and scared at the same time. I didn't know where all the gold had come from. We also found a bank passbook inside, and that's when I realised that I had picked the wrong bag," said Sonawane.

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The couple began to panic, and decided to call their son, Vitthal. Meanwhile, they found a mobile number on the passbook, and dialled the number to check if it was that of the owner's. "The lady on the other end sounded distraught and told me that she was at the police station," said Sonawane, adding, "We explained to her what had happened, and told her that her jewellery was with us."

Returned in an hour
Ugle, who owns an onion retail business, was in tears when she received the call. "This gold was all I had as life earnings. There was a marriage in our home and I had taken the gold from our locker. I had gone to deposit it, when it got misplaced. I am so thankful to Sonawane uncle, who returned my jewellery," said Ugle.

Sonawane said that when he first saw the jewellery, the only thought racing his mind was finding the rightful owner. "I have seen poverty and know how much it takes to buy jewellery. I am glad I was able to help."