Calcutta, Dec. 1: A taxi driver today returned Rs 10,000 left behind by a passenger, breaking traffic rules on the way and risking being collared by cops.

The police said they wanted to “honour the honest taxi driver” but had forgotten to take down his name.

Ahmed Hussain Bakshi, a sports goods trader in Bidhan Chandra Roy Market in the Maidan area, had boarded the taxi (WB04/1537) from Kidderpore around 1pm. He got down near the market but forgot his leather bag containing the cash and some papers.

After travelling some distance, the driver saw the bag in the back seat and reversed, not realising that he was going in the wrong direction on the one-way road.

Traffic guard Jayanta Haldar flagged the taxi down at the Mayo Road-Dufferin Road crossing.

“When I asked the driver why he was violating traffic rules, he told me he was in a hurry because he had to return a bag left behind by a passenger,” Haldar said.

The traffic guard then asked him to park the taxi nearby and walk to the market. The driver found Bakshi and handed him the bag.

The driver was allowed to go and Bakshi was taken to Maidan police station, where he was interrogated by sub-inspector P.C. Sarkar.

Bakshi told the sub-inspector that he had kept Rs 10,000 in his bag along with some papers. The police checked the bag and let him go.

Both the driver and the traffic guard earned praise from senior officers of the traffic department.

“Such a gesture must be appreciated. In such cases, we may not offer any cash reward to any employee, but a gesture like this helps him improve his service career. But we shall honour the honest taxi driver,” said Manoj Verma, deputy commissioner of police (traffic).

Maidan police station sources said they were trying to contact the owner of the taxi, K. Singh, to trace the driver.

In October, taxi driver Sailesh Yadav had deposited a bag, which he found in the back seat, at Park Street police station. Some documents and Rs 35,000 were found in it.

Rana Dutta was in dire need of money for his ailing wife when a passenger left behind cash and gold jewellery worth Rs 4 lakh in his taxi. But he kept greed at bay and returned everything.