Generous thief steals 10 lakhs, takes only half

The incident took place in the wee hours of Wednesday in the Salem-Chennai Express, the same train in which Rs 5.75 crore of demonetised currency was stolen around the same time last year.  

The bag belongs to Ravikumar (46), a businessman from Salem, who boarded the train on the night of October 31 with around Rs 10 lakh to purchase items made of silver in Chennai. 

After the train reached Egmore station at 5 am on Wednesday, Ravikumar, who was about to step down from the train, suddenly found his bag missing. He immediately alerted the station master, who passed on the information to the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and the Government Railway Police (GRP). 

When the CCTV footage was combed, cops found a man in his 60s getting down from the A-1 coach of the train at 4 am with the bag and walking down Platform 5 towards Tambaram Sanatorium. The bag was later found hidden under one of the platform benches. Cops opened the bag and found it filled with cash. 

Ravikumar, who reached Tambaram station, confirmed that it was his bag. However, the bag contained only Rs 5 lakh. 

Later, the CCTV footage showed the senior citizen hiding the bag under the bench. Police are trying to establish his identity. Police also suspect that the burglar must have hidden the bag to return and flee with the remaining cash. Railway police have registered a case.