Beggar deposits 44 years of coins in bank

Calcutta, India -- A Calcutta, India, beggar has opened a bank account using four large buckets full of coins that she has collected over 44 years.

City police said they encouraged Laxmi Das, 60, to deposit her coin collection, which includes coins minted as far back as 1961, after it became known that she was saving the currency, which amounts to nearly $800, in her small hut in a shanty town, The Daily Telegraph reported Wednesday.

"It was not safe for her to keep the coins in the shanty town after locals came to know about it" Calcutta police officer Baidyanath Saha said.

Das said she spent some of the coins she received through begging on essential items and saved the rest for her eventual retirement -- a day she says is rapidly drawing near as she becomes too old to spend her days begging for change.

The bank said her deposit was large enough for Das to apply for a credit card.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.