Mumbai man returns ₹80,000 wallet he found — owner turned out to be a street vendor
Ramesh Gaikwad, a daily wage construction worker, spent three days tracking down the owner of a wallet stuffed with cash and documents. The internet called it 'the most wholesome story of the year'.
A 34-year-old construction worker from Mumbai’s Dharavi area has become an unlikely internet hero after spending three days tracking down the owner of a wallet containing ₹80,000 in cash and several important documents he found outside a suburban railway station.
Ramesh Gaikwad found the wallet near Kurla station on a Thursday morning. Unable to read the name on the Aadhaar card inside — he said the card was worn and partially illegible — he took it to the local police station, where officers helped him identify the owner.
The owner turned out to be Mohammed Salim, a 58-year-old pavement vendor who sells vegetables near Dadar. The cash, Salim told reporters, represented six months of savings he had been carrying to pay his daughter’s college fees.
“I never thought I would see this money again,” Salim said, visibly emotional. “I had given up hope.” The reunion, captured on video by a police constable, was shared on social media and had been viewed over 12 million times by Sunday evening.
Gaikwad, who earns around ₹600 a day, said he had not considered keeping the money for even a moment. “It was not mine,” he said simply, when asked why he had gone to such lengths.
