Honest taxi driver who returned bag worth ₹8L has debt of ₹70K
EXEMPLARY Debendra Kapri says returning the bag gave him peace of mind. The taxi driver says his moral values are greater than his personal needs; dreams of owning a taxi to improve his living standard and repay the ₹70,000 loan
The foreign currency notes and valuables in the black backpack worth ₹8 lakh, forgotten by its owner in his taxi, could have taken care of everything Debendra Kapri ever wished for.
The 22-year-old taxi driver returned it to its owner and bought contentment instead. His conscience and his father’s lessons on honesty figure higher on the list than his needs, he says.
Last week, Kapri walked into a police station at Delhi’s domestic airport to deposit a bag left behind in his vehicle by a passenger earlier that day. The officer on duty was shocked to find that it contained gold jewellery, a laptop, an iPhone, a camera and $70 — items amounting to a whopping ₹8 lakh.
Kapri claimed that he knew what was there inside the bag but decided to return it to its owner. The police later found out that the bag belonged to Mubisher Wani, a resident of Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir. He was given back the bag that same evening.
Kapri is a debt-ridden man and is struggling to repay a loan of ₹70,000 to a private financier in his hometown in Bihar’s Banka. His father took a loan of ₹1 lakh in 2008-09 on a 5% per month interest rate to marry off two of his daughters. The simple farmer, who did not have a permanent source of income, could not even pay the monthly interest amount.
The interest amount accumulated with every passing month and the pressure to return the money intensified, initially with warnings and later with life threats to the family members. With the added compound interest, the ₹1 lakh loan increased to ₹2 lakh within 2 years.
The family sold a small piece of land but it was not enough to pay off the loan. In 2011, Kapri’s elder brother left home for Rajkot in Gujarat to earn a livelihood. But his meagre income proved insufficient to cater to his personal expenses and needs of his family of five, leave alone repay the loan.
“My father was under stress and mother fell sick but we had no money to buy medicines for her. With each passing day, our financial condition was deteriorating. Though I was only 17, I had no choice but to quit studies and support my family. In 2012, I came to Delhi in search of a job,” he says.
The youngest among four siblings, Kapri recalls he could appear only in two subjects in his Class 10 exam as he met with an accident. “Responsibilities took over my books and dreams of becoming an engineer. Destiny brought me to Delhi and I ended up becoming a cleaner at a taxi stand at Delhi airport,” he says.
In two years, Kapri learnt driving. His cousin, Pintu, took up the role of his driving instructor in addition to being his only guardian in the city. Kapri now aspires to own one for a better life.
He lives in a 10x10 rented room with two roommates, who too work as drivers, on the first floor of a building in Mehram Nagar, an urban village near the Delhi airport. An iron door opens into the room that has an open kitchen with a gas stove and cylinder on the floor. The front wall has two cloth hangers that struggle to lift the weight of the clothes of the 3 occupants. On the left side is a small mirror shared by the three.
“The fan in my room blows out hot air and makes it difficult for us to sleep. But the kind of appreciation I have received from my friends, neighbours from my home town and in Delhi after the incident gives me peace of mind. My moral values are greater than my personal needs,” Kapri said.
Asked what he would do if he has ₹8 lakh, he says, “I will repay the loan. From the remaining amount, I will buy my own taxi that will improve my lifestyle.”