Whitefield

Rs 500 notes

Puneeth

Ugadi came two days early for a bunch of unwary commuters on a hecticroad near Hotel Formule1 as it suddenly began raining Rs 500 currency notes. Stunned commuters looked around in disbelief and traffic came to a standstill for a brief moment… and then of course, total chaos ensued.With the real owner of the money nowhere in sight, excited two-wheeler riders and car drivers stopped in their tracks and dashed out onto the road, scooping up as much as their hands could hold. And it kept coming.However, their avaricious happiness was short-lived as an alert group of two traffic police personnel and a traffic warden ensure that all those trying to escape with the cash did not and ensured the notes were returned to its rightful owner.The scene unfolded on ITPL road in Whitefield on a stifling Thursday afternoon, when Whitefield traffic police inspector L V Tejaswi, accompanied by head constable Shivaraj and traffic warden Manju Mehra, were going about business as usual, fining illegally parked cars.It was just after 12 pm when Manju, who was talkin to a few women sweeping up dry leaves by the side of the road, heard some commotion behind her.“I turned around and was shocked to see what looked likeflying in the air, and there was easily Rs 30,000 there. I blinked a few times in disbelief, thinking I was hallucinating from having stood in the sun for too long. When I saw that traffic had come to a halt and everyone was running around collecting the notes, I realised some unsuspecting person had lost his money and rushed to stop people from escaping,” the traffic warden told Mirror.Immediately, traffic police inspector Tejaswi, HC Shivaraj, and Manju swung into action, going after all those who were trying to flee with the money. At least nine different people had managed to pick up many notes and were looking to get away, when the trio began screaming for all of them to stay where they were.She claims she had to stand in front of a car whose driver had picked up at least Rs 8,000. She refused to let him move until he got down from the vehicle and returned the money. The police too were busy running behind bike riders looking to make a quick getaway. Finally, everyone was rounded up and brought toward the police jeep.Several notes were also found near the median, and the police began shouting for the owner of the money to step forward. “Of course, more than two persons staked claim, but we didn’t believe them. We told them to accompany us to the law-and-order police station, but they slunk away. Suddenly, an old man claimed he saw someone drop the cash out of a bus window, but no bus had passed by for almost 30 minutes, so that theory was ruled out too,” Manju explained.By then, Manju and the cops had instructed others in the vicinity to go around asking if anyone had lost their money.Meanwhile, 24-year-old coffee shop owner and resident of Prestige Shanthiniketan, PuneethKalra, heard the motorist behind him yelling at him to stop.“I stopped when the guy behind me yelled that money was flying out of my pocket. I checked my back pocket and realised the wad of Rs 500 notes I had kept in my back pocket was nearly empty. Panicked, I took a U-turn and rushed back around 150 metres to see that a crowd had gathered near Hotel Formule1. I went up to the traffic police and told them it was my money, but of course they wanted proof; so I told them the original amount was around Rs 50,000 and showed them the amount remaining in my pocket,”said.The traffic trio and an old man, who had gathered up most of the money, counted nearly Rs 25,000 and tallied it with what was in Puneeth’s hands, before returning it to the businessman; but there was still Rs 3,000 missing.“I was in a state of complete shock and had no idea what was happening. The traffic police requested me to give Rs 1,000 as reward to the old man who had collected most of my money. I feel Rs 3,000 is a small price to pay. Imagine if I had lost the entire amount. I am extremely grateful to the traffic police and the warden who helped me get my money back,” he added.Puneeth was on his way, on his bike, to deposit the amount in a bank near the Big Bazaar junction when the incident occurred.As was his routine, the businessman had folded the unpinned wad of notes and pushed it into the back pocket of his jeans, but the notes came undone and flew out of his pocket. By the way, he had a backpack on him.“I’m just glad we could help someone get his hard-earned money back. There were a lot of greedy people on the road, but several honest ones as well, who went around searching for the rightful owner,” Manju added.