india

Updated: Oct 15, 2019 18:56 IST

Feeding a stray cat proved costly for a man after it escaped with a polythene bag containing about Rs 90,000 from his home in Khadanja Qutubpur village in Haridwar district about 38 km from Haridwar. The man, a meat shop owner, after discovering the loss could only find about Rs 7,000 of the total amount from a nearby field where the cat had taken the bag mistaking it for food.

The incident happened on Sunday night but the man discovered it on Monday morning when he found the bag full of cash missing. He could not find the bag in its place when he was about to leave for the market.

According to Sushil Kumar, a resident of the same village and the husband of the village head, the victim has been identified as one Meenu.

“He used to keep his daily income in a polythene bag inside a plastic box kept in an attic inside his house. After every 10 or 15 days, he used to take a portion of the money to buy chickens for his shop from a nearby poultry farm. On Monday morning, he was about to go to the poultry farm when he found the bag missing,” he said.

Distressed, all the family members started looking for the bag.

“When they were looking for the polythene bag, some of the villagers told them that they had seen a black cat holding a polythene bag in its mouth while running towards a nearby field. Believing them, they soon went towards the field only to find the polythene bag lying there in tatters. They could only find Rs 7,000 inside it. They also found currency notes worth about Rs 4,000 torn by the cat lying there,” said Kumar claiming that he was present on the spot when they found that polythene bag.

Despite several attempts, Meenu could not be contacted.

Another villager, Mahak Singh, who was aware of the incident, said, “The incident was a subject of discussion among the villagers on Monday and Tuesday.”

“What was more amusing was the fact that Meenu often used to feed the stray cat which used to come to his house for food. After finding the remaining cash, he figured that it must have entered the house from a ventilator during Sunday night as the doors were shut,” he said.

“While the cat was dragging the bag through the village, many currency notes were scattered on the road. They were picked by some passersby as free money. Though the incident is an amusing one for us but Meenu lost a hefty amount of his hard earned money,” the villager said.