Rescued Indore beggar turns out to be 'millionaire', but relative claims 'misunderstanding'

Three houses, three autorickshaws and a chauffeur-driven car. One would think these belonged to a jeweller from Indore's Sarafa Bazaar, not a leprosy-afflicted man, who moves around inconspicuously on a wheeled board, seeking alms, but silently lending lakhs in the famed bullion market.

Officials in Indore were left stunned recently when an anti-beggary drive led them to a 50-year-old man who has reportedly amassed property worth several lakh rupees by seeking alms, but the episode took a new turn on Monday when a close relative of the beggar dismissed the administration's claim as false, saying they had some ''misunderstanding''.

Women and Child Development Department official Dinesh Mishra said a leprosy patient was rescued from the Sarafa area following information from local residents.

Mishra, the nodal officer for the begging eradication campaign, said, ''We have learned that this man owns three pucca houses, including a three-story building. In addition, he owns three auto-rickshaws that he rents out.

According to Mishra, the man also owns a car in which he begs, and he has hired a driver for this purpose.

He explained, ''This man, suffering from leprosy, begs from a wheeled cart.'' According to Mishra, the man has been begging since 2021-22, and it has also been revealed that he has lent Rs 4 lakh to Rs 5 lakh to people in the bullion market, from which he charges daily interest.

The officer explained, ''He earns Rs 1,000 to 2,000 per day from this interest. In addition, he receives Rs 400 to 500 daily in alms.'' According to Mishra, the man has been placed at a shelter home.

As the ''lakhpati'' beggar became talk of the town and hogged media limelight, his nephew told reporters that the three-storey house, which the administration claims is owned by his uncle, is actually in his mother's name.

''False claims are being made about my uncle's (the beggar's) properties. The three-storey house is registered in my mother's name in government records, and I pay the instalments for the loan taken for the house. We have all the documents,'' he insisted.

This man further claimed his uncle is locked in a dispute with another person regarding the ownership of a different house.

''My uncle lends money on interest to people doing small jobs in the bullion market. During my meeting with him (at the shelter home), he said that he used to go there (Sarafa Bazaar) to collect this money, and due to some misunderstanding, his photographs were circulated as a beggar,'' he claimed.

District Magistrate Shivam Verma said Indore is a ''beggar-free city,'' and upon receiving information about begging, campaigns are launched to rehabilitate destitute.

The administration has received preliminary information about the man's assets, and appropriate legal action will be taken after all facts are verified, Verma added.

The administration has imposed a legal ban on begging, giving alms, and even purchasing goods from beggars in Indore.

However, Rupali Jain, president of Pravesh, an NGO working to eradicate beggary, said the case of this leprosy-afflicted man should be viewed from a humanitarian perspective, claiming he did not amass his alleged wealth of millions of rupees by begging.

She explained that the man used to work as a mason a few years ago, but was unable to continue after suffering severe damage to his fingers and feet due to leprosy.

Facing social and family discrimination, he began begging at night near the famous Chaat Chowpatty, a popular night food market, in the Sarafa area, she said.

''We tried to convince this man twice in the last four years to stop begging. He did stop the practice for a while, but later went back to it,'' Jain said, while underlining the difficulties in rehabilitating people with diseases that evoke intense social stigma.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)