Honest Thane auto driver returns wallet with cash, documents to owner

A police constable posted at the Navi Mumbai police commissionerate had lost all hopes of getting his wallet back after he lost it early on Saturday morning.

However, an honest auto rickshaw driver from Thane, Sunil Salunke, who found the wallet with ₹10,500 in cash, cards and important documents, returned it to the constable, Santosh Prabhakar Rodekar. The police department appreciated Salunke for his honesty.

On Saturday, Rodekar left home at around 10.30am to report for duty in Navi Mumbai. He boarded Salunke’s auto from Gurukul Society in Panchpakhadi for Thane railway station. Rodekar got an important phone call while he was alighting at Gaondevi ground and gave change to the driver while talking on phone. He did not realise that his wallet had fallen from his trouser pockets and fell in the auto while removing cash.

Rodekar told Hindustan Times, “I boarded the Navi Mumbai-bound train from the trans-harbour line and realised that my wallet was missing. It had around ₹10,500 along with my ATM card, pan card and identity card among other documents. I realised it must have fallen in the rickshaw as I did not remove it anywhere else. I immediately called the traffic control room and the Naupada police station to trace the rickshaw driver.”

During the same time, Salunke, 48, a resident of Yashodhan Nagar, said that another woman passenger who boarded his rickshaw saw the wallet and handed it over. “I checked that it had cash and a police identity card along with other bank cards. I did not know where to give it, so I reached out to former NCP corporator Hanumant Jagdale and told him about the wallet. A person sitting in his office said that he knew the joint commissioner of Thane police, Dattatray Karale.”

Karale told the person to tell the auto driver to leave the wallet in his office and he will have it delivered to the constable.

Karale said, “He had reached me through many people only because he wanted to return the wallet. The wallet not only had money but important documents. We appreciated his honesty and have decided to felicitate him with a certificate in the future. Such acts need to be appreciated and acknowledged.”

Salunke, who has been riding the auto for 26 years, said that he has found mobiles, bags and wallets several times left behind by commuters. “I have found such valuables many times left behind in the auto and have always returned. I believe we do not deserve more than what we work for.”