Call for jackfruit, gift of gold: Three-year journey of a lost sovereign

KOCHI: For Mohammed Jazeer, a 48-year-old auto driver in Kochi, a heavy weight was finally lifted from his shoulders this week. For three years, he had been a custodian of someone else’s treasure, waiting for a single phone call to make things right.

The story began in 2023. Ayishath Susana and her husband had travelled from Kulufishi, Maldives, to Kochi for their son’s leukaemia treatment at Amrita Hospital. During their stay, they became regular passengers of Mohammed Jazeer.

On one particular trip to the Women and Children’s Hospital in Muvattupuzha, Jazeer’s auto broke down, so he drove the family in his Wagon R instead. That night, the couple realised their son’s gold chain—weighing nearly a sovereign—was missing. Despite a frantic search of the car, the jewellery was nowhere to be found. Eventually, the family completed the treatment and returned to the Maldives, resigned to the loss.

The mystery was solved much later when Jazeer took his car to a workshop. There, tucked away near the spare tire in the trunk, lay the gold chain. It had likely slipped from the child’s hand and slid through a gap into the rear compartment.

Jazeer wanted to return it immediately, but there was one problem: he hadn’t saved the couple’s phone number. He kept the chain safe, hoping that one day, fate would bring them back.

Three years later, fate finally intervened. Susana returned to Kochi and, remembering her reliable driver, called Jazeer with a simple request: she was looking for some ripe jackfruit.

Jazeer saw it as a divine opportunity. After sourcing the fruit, he headed to the couple’s apartment with a "special gift" in hand. In a touching ceremony held in the presence of Cheranallur SI G. Sunil, Jazeer finally placed the gold chain back into the hands of its rightful owners.

This wasn't Jazeer’s first act of integrity. In his 18 years as a driver, he has frequently returned valuables left behind by passengers, including a bag of money and jewellery belonging to an elderly resident of Tripunithura.

Jazeer lives in Kochi with his wife, Sahina, and their two sons: Mohammed Jizam, an employee at Bharat Benz, and Mohammed Jasin, an engineering student. While he may drive for a living, his character proves he is a man of immense wealth.