Ragpicker, 19, returns Rs 58,000 to owner, cops doff their hats

TIRUNELVELI: It’s a rags-to-riches story of a different kind. When 19-year-old G Mariammal, a rag picker whose earnings even in the best of times doesn’t cross Rs 300 a day, spotted a purse with wards of currency and a smartphone on Wednesday, she didn’t sit down to count her luck or the money, but took it straight to the Mukkudal police station in Tirunelveli district where cops found Rs 58,210 in it.
On Friday, Tirunelveli district SP N Manivannan felicitated Mariammal, the last of the five daughters of Ganapathy, 45, and Selvi, 40, for her honesty. The family belongs to the Kattu Naicker community, an impoverished nomadic tribe that makes a living through begging or selling smallwares on the streets of Tamil Nadu. All her elder sisters are married and she lives with her parents. Like many others in her community, she could not continue schooling after Class V. She dropped out and started picking rags.
Around 3pm on Wednesday Mariammal, her aunt and six other women were collecting rags when the teenager found the purse. “Suddenly the purse started vibrating and we found money and an expensive phone inside it,” says Selvi.
The women immediately took it to the police station. “We know the value of hardearned money,” Selvi said. The police felicitated them.
The owner of the purse gave them Rs 1,000 as a token of appreciation.