Woman Who Earned Her Living As A Beggar Leaves Behind Rs 1 Lakh Cash After Death

In a surprising turn of events, a beggar passed away due to natural causes and left a wad of cash worth Rs 1 lakh for her family members who were not expecting it.

According to a report by the Times of India, the woman has been identified as Kanika Mahanta who begged for a living and died in West Bengal's Islampur's Loknath colony. The 40-year-old's mother and other siblings also beg for a living, added the report.

No one was expecting the money but to their surprise, Kanika's gunny bags and trunks were found filled with coins and notes, said the TOI report.

TOI

"When we searched Kanika's room as her mother told her to find some of her belongings for last rites. We were stunned to see so much cash," the report quoted Nikhil Das, a neighbour as saying.

The police were informed about the development. Most of the cash was in Rs 5 and 10 coins and notes of Rs 20. The total amount was counted to be Rs 1.07 lakh. Das said more coins are to be counted as it was stopped due to local bodies' elections. The counting will start after two days. Till then, the room has been locked.

Kanika's brother Bablu, who resides in another locality, said his family doesn't know how much Kanika has saved over several years. Bablu said they would have used the money on Kanika and her ailing mother's treatment if they knew about the money.

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According to another neighbour, part of the money would be spent on Kanika's last rites, and the rest of it would be deposited in a bank in her mother's and sister's names.

A similar incident was reported back in 2019 from Mumbai when documents and fixed deposits worth Rs 8.77 lakh were recovered from a beggar who had died in an accident.

The deceased beggar was identified as Birju Chandra Azad, who lived in a dilapidated one-room house. It had taken police eight hours to count the coins worth Rs 1.5 lakh recovered from him. The beggar lived alone in a slum in Govandi. Police said the deceased had left a PAN card, Aadhaar card and a voter ID card.

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