17 prisoners work in three shifts at the Freedom Filling Station (Representational)
Two prisoners, who were on night duty on November 10 at the Freedom Filling Station - an Indian Oil Corporation petrol bunk - run by prisoners in Pudukkottai district in Tamil Nadu, found a bag left behind by a two-wheeler rider after filling up fuel.
To their surprise and shock, they found Rs 1.74 lakh in cash, a cell phone and some other papers.
On the other hand, the two convicts, Muthukumar and Karthik who are serving time for murder and robbery respectively, took the bag to their superior at the bunk and handed over the bag.
Narrating the incident L Mariadas, Chief Head Warden who is on deputation at the bunk told IANS, "The two prisoners brought the bag to their superior. A call was made to a number saved in the cell phone who confirmed that he knew one of the person who were on the two wheeler.
Meanwhile, the two youngsters who had filled petrol at the bunk and left the bag, returned.
"They were told to count the cash and check other contents. We had also informed our superiors. We told the youth to come the next day and collect the bag. The next day they came and collected their belongings," Mr Mariadas said.
There are about 17 prisoners working in three shifts at the Freedom Filling Station, an initiative of the Tamil Nadu Prisons Department.
"The prisoners who work here are long sentence servers convicted for murders and other crimes generally done in a fit of anger or other emotions," said Vijayakumar, a retired police official also working in the bunk.
"All the prisoners are of good nature and have earned goodwill of the customers. This is not the first time cash was returned to our customers. Several times we have returned cash amounting to Rs 4,000, Rs 5,000, ATM cards and other items," Mr Vijayakumar said.