A fortnight on, the mystery surrounding a bag containing ₹25 lakh in cash, found at a Hotel Saravana Bhavan branch in Anna Nagar, refuses to clear. There have been no claimants so far.
The police have, therefore, handed the cash over to the State treasury as unclaimed money.
On May 30, Ravi, a 40-year-old waiter at the restaurant, spotted a plastic bag on the sofa. He promptly handed the bag over to restaurant manager Loganathan.
They waited until evening for the owner to claim the bag. With no one turning up, they handed it over to the Anna Nagar police. On opening the bag, the police found it contained 23 bundles of ₹2,000 denomination currency notes, totalling to ₹25 lakh.
CCTV footage showed that around 10.30 a.m on May 30, two well-dressed customers had breakfast at the table where the bag was found. But there are no clues to their identity.
M. Saravanan, Inspector of Police, Anna Nagar, told The Hindu , “Immediately the money was handed over to us... and the news ciculated to the media. Newspapers and television channels flashed the news. But still no one came forward to claim the money. Hence, we remitted it to the State Treasury and duly informed the Revenue Divisional Officer, Tondiarpet, and Tahsildar, Aminijikarai.”
Unaccounted cash theory
“ Prima facie it appears that it was unaccounted cash. As per Section 102 of the Criminal Procedure Code, we registered a case and waited for the claimant. We can’t wait forever. Hence, we handed it over to Treasury. If any claimant comes with substantial proof that the money is theirs, they can approach the police or revenue authorities and collect the money,” said V. Gunasekaran, Assistant Commissioner of Police. Waiter Ravi, has, meanwhile, been promoted as assistant manager by the restaurant chain. The police rewarded him with a watch for his act. “On seeing the bag which was abandoned here, I promptly handed it over to my manager for further action... I did not open it to see what was inside. We are trained to not be greedy,” he said, simplicity writ large on his face.
