Karukachal, Kottayam: A set of fortuitous incidents helped Pampady native Sanoj to back the Rs 42,000 he had lost. And he has to thank a retired cop and a cat for it. The retired police officer come across the money lying on the road by accident, while the cat unintentionally led him to it.
E M Peter (Sanoj), the van driver of a shop in Pampady, lost Rs 42,000 from his van around 11.30am on Saturday. Sanoj did not realise that the cash had fallen onto the road through the gear box, while he was driving. Only after he reached Pampady, did he realise that the cash was missing. He searched for the money all over the road but could not find it. Sanoj then gave complaints at the Pampady and Karukachal police stations.
Retired DySP Ashok Kumar, a native of Champakara, came by that road an hour later and stopped the vehicle after noticing a cat sitting on the middle of the road at Thommachery. Assuming that the cat could have been injured, Ashok got off his vehicle and went towards the cat and found that it was in fact sitting amid currency notes in the rain.
He then enquired with the local people if they knew anything about the money, but got no leads.
Then he went to the police station to hand over the money, and the cops at the station told him about the complaint they had received. Subsequently, Karukachal SI A G Shajan returned the money to Sanoj on Sunday morning.
The money had been entrusted with Sanoj to be paid to a person for the cement unloaded for the construction of a house at Thommachery.
If the retired cop had not stopped the vehicle on seeing the cat, someone else would have found the money and the chances of getting it back would have been bleak.
