A TEEN who found a packet containing diamonds worth four million rupees (RM267,600) while playing cricket in Mahidhapura’s “diamond street” on Tuesday has earned praise for returning the precious stones to their owner, reported The Times of India. 

Vishal Upadhyay, the 15-year-old son of a watchman, was given 30,000 rupees by the diamonds’ owner, Mansukh Savaliya, and another 11,000 rupees by Surat Diamond Association president Babu Gujarati yesterday for his honesty.

“I am so indebted to the boy for returning my diamond packet. It would have been a big loss had I not found the packet.

“I would have had to sell my house to repay my creditors. The boy saved me and my family,” Savaliya said, adding that he narrowed down his search area after going through CCTV footage.

Upadhyay found the packet, containing 700-carat diamonds, after chasing a ball that his friend had hit into a roadside parking area. He spotted the packet beneath a parked two-wheeler.

“I returned home and kept the packet safely without informing my parents. I thought I would find the rightful owner and return the packet to him.

“On the third day, the owner came looking for the packet. I heard the conversation and immediately followed him. I told him that the packet was with me,” said Upadhyay, whose mother stitches clothes for a living.

“I remember losing a 50-rupee note given by my mother. That day, I could not eat. I kept thinking about the pain and agony that the person who lost the diamond packet might be going through,” said the teen, who lives with five family members in a tiny tin-shed room.

Asked what he planned to do with the reward money, he said: “I will use the money for my studies. I want to make it big one day. I want to give a quality life to my mother and father.”

His father, Phulchand Upadhyay, is employed as a watchman, earning 8,000 rupees a month, at a building housing diamond offices in Mahidhpura. – August 20, 2017.