Mylavaram (Andhra Pradesh), Feb 18 (IANS): A pork seller at Mylavaram in Andhra Pradesh's Krishna district lost Rs 5 lakh worth currency notes as termites feasted on them without his knowledge in the past few months.

"Jamalayya stuffed the cash in a plastic bag and saved them in a trunk to protect the money from the clutches of his son who would grab from him to booze," confirmed a police official to IANS.

According to police, Jamalayya was saving money to build a house.

He stuffed the money in a plastic bag made out of used fertilizer bags.

"We had heavy rains in 2020 and during inclement weather, termites problem is big. So the insects feasted on the currency notes,a said the official.

The poor man's innocence of what was happening with his hard earned cash got shattered on Tuesday when he reached into the trunk as he wanted to repay a debt to somebody.

After discovering the loss he suffered, all of Jamalyya's family members emptied the trunk on a bed and onto the ground to sit around and salvage as much as they could.

Currency note denominations included Rs 500, Rs 200, Rs 100, Rs 20 and Rs 10.

The distraught family members were seen helplessly looking at the bitten off currency notes with gaping holes.

Moved by Jamalayya's predicament, Bank of Baroda officials in Vijayawada approached to compensate, said the official.

"Depending on how much Bank of Baroda will pay, we are planning to do a panchnama on the balance amount and send it to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)," said the official about the police department's plan to do its bit.

Mylavaram is 44 km north of Vijayawada.