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Railway cops score on honesty

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Girish Vadilal Shah with the RPF personnel
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Harshvardhan Kalbande is startled at the noise coming from the staircase at the entrance of Dadar station but rests easy when he sees college kids cracking a joke. Kalbande just returned from a two-day holiday in Amravati, where he resides, to start patrolling the western line. Kalbande is a Railway Police Force (RPF) constable who was recently rewarded along with Mahesh P, another RPF constable, for returning a bag containing Rs11.46 lakh to its rightful owner, Girish Vadilal Shah who had lost his bag at Churchgate station.

"We received an alert that a bag has been left on a train and we rushed to the spot. We saw a man with the same bag. I could see he was uncomfortable and sweating profusely.

He was talking to someone on the phone and we told him to turn it off and talk to us. He couldn't answer any of our questions properly and we knew he wasn't the owner of the bag," said Kalbande, who along with Mahesh, handed over the bag to their boss and after an inquiry let the other man go.

The first thought that occurred to them when they got the bag was what if it's a bomb? "We scanned it thoroughly before touching it. When we found out it had cash, I thought it belonged to some poor man who wanted to get his daughter married or someone's life-long savings," said Mahesh P, a resident of Shimoga district in Karnataka, currently stationed at Churchgate. "The amount of praise and reward I received from everyone is more than enough for me."

Mahesh joined the RPF in 2006. Before donning the khakee, he used to teach sports to schoolchildren. "I loved sports as a child and played basketball and football at the university and state level. Now, I play for the RPSF team here and we're currently practising for the All India inter-railway basketball tournament to be held in Ratlam. We're confident about winning this year," he said. "I came to Mumbai in 2007 and wish for a posting in Karnataka. I have two brothers and five sisters who are married. My mother wants me to get married soon."

Kalbande, on the other hand, will think about marriage after he gets posted near his hometown Amravati in Maharashtra. He joined the RPF in 2007. "When I was in the 6th standard, I had gone to a fair and found a watch. I did not tell anybody about it but I found a policeman and gave it to him thinking that it will reach the right person. Everyone praised me... You feel more interested in doing your work when your family and your department honours you," said Kalbande.

Girish Vadilal Shah is a thankful man. "Even in the generation of kalyug, there are honest people. They performed their duty earnestly, which is very important... I am nothing but grateful," he said.

The next time you find something on a train, you know who to call.

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