In a recent incident, a 32-year-old ragpicker named Saleman Sheik discovered a bag containing $3 million, amounting to Rs 25 crore, in cash while searching through garbage piles near Nagawara railway station in Bengaluru. The currency, consisting of 23 bundles of 100-dollar bills wrapped inside a plastic bag with a note found on top of the bundle claiming that the cash belonged to the United Nations, was found on November 3. A case was officially registered on Thursday, November 9.
Sheik immediately informed his employer, Tauhidul Islam alias Bappa, who, in turn, contacted social activist R Kaleemulla. Kaleemulla then took the notes to Bengaluru city police commissioner B Dayananda. Upon investigation, it was found that the notes were fake. According to police, despite the confirmation from RBI officials about the counterfeit nature of the notes, they refused to provide an official report, leading to the submission of the bundles to a private bank in Chennai for more detailed analysis.
Meanwhile, Islam said that he had been abducted on the midnight of November 7 by five men who believed he still possessed some of the money. Despite him saying that he had handed everything over to the police, the abductors tortured him and released him only the next day near Manyata Tech Park after threatening him to not inform the police about the abduction.
Sheik alerted Kaleemulla again, leading to the involvement of Amruthahalli and Hebbal police. The police are in the process of collecting CCTV footage to identify the individuals involved in the abduction.