By Tim Binnall
An Indian farmer's attempt at hiding a sizeable sum of money from his family by burying it on his property proved to be a costly mistake when he later unearthed the 'treasure' and found it had been destroyed by insects. According to a local media report, the avaricious individual at the center of the odd case is a man named Mangilal Meghwal, who resides in the village of Newai. After acquiring approximately $5,000 from the sale of some property last year, the farmer kept the cash secret from his sons, lest they spend the loot. Also concerned that having the money at his house could result in it being stolen, Meghwal came up with what he undoubtedly thought was a brilliant idea to keep it safe, placing the bills in a plastic bag and burying the bundle on his land.
Alas, the ill-conceived nature of the farmer's scheme began to reveal itself a few months later when, seeking to do some home repairs, he attempted to dip into the money and realized that he had forgotten where it was hidden. After a desperate search of the land yielded no sign of the buried treasure, an embarrassed Meghwal revealed the strange situation to his sons. While they were initially skeptical of his strange story, the farmer's family eventually believed the fantastic tale and also tried to find the stashed cash to no avail. Months later, the money was discovered following monsoon season in a particularly cruel twist of fate as it surfaced in a field having been largely eaten by termites that had managed to get into the plastic bag holding the bills.
In a last-ditch effort to salvage some of the money, Meghwal brought the badly damaged cash to the State Bank of India, but was rebuffed by officials who indicated that the bills were now worthless due to their condition. As one might imagine, the farmer has become something of a pariah to his wife and sons, who blame him for squandering the family's savings with his foolish plan to keep the cash a secret by burying it rather than simply putting it in the bank, where it would not have met such a maddening fate.