Sure, the world is not in a great state at the moment, with murder and carnage the order of the day. But there are still people who care about others – and act accordingly. We have seen it with the huge Hurricane relief efforts, and, on a smaller scale, we see it in the following story.
A good Samaritan who turned in to police $10,000 lying in a Malvern street says he wants no reward.Jatendra Chirag, 24, was on his way to work in the city yesterday afternoon when he saw bundles of cash peeping out of an envelope by the side of Dandenong Road in Malvern.Mr Chirag couldn’t believe his eyes. In front of him was $10,000, neatly bundled in $100 notes.“I was surprised, I was shocked. The first thing I thought was it might be fake money. It’s unusual to see money in $100 notes,” he said.The customer service officer from Malvern picked up the money and took it to work, but he was always clear about what he would do – return the money to police in the hope it would get back to its owner.“Put it this way _ if I had lost 10 grand, how would I feel? I would be devastated. I wouldn’t like someone else to be in that situation. I just wanted to return that money to whom it belonged, that was all.”Mr Chirag didn’t tell anyone at work about his find. After work, just before midnight, he rushed to Malvern police station.Meanwhile, an elderly Malvern man had reported to police that he had lost $10,000 he had just withdrawn from the Commonwealth Bank in Carnegie. The money fell out of his pocket when he tripped near the corner of Station Street and Dandenong Road.The man, who is in his 60s and spoke only Russian, was using a walking frame. Police had to call an interpreter to help the man explain what had happened.The man was ecstatic when police phoned him but offered Mr Chirag no reward.But the lucky finder said the thought of a reward never crossed his mind. “I feel good that I did the right thing . . . he must have worked a lot of years for that money,” Mr Chirag said.Acting Sergeant Andrew Twining of Malvern Police said the cash stash had shocked police. “It’s terrific. We don’t normally get large sums of money. We get wallets containing small amounts of money handed in. But to have a sum of this quantity handed in just renews your faith in people.”
