Jumpy the Monkey boarded a bus to Nandanvan. He found a place to sit and kept his bag under the seat.

After some time, Jumpy fell asleep. When the bus arrived at Nandanvan, all the passengers got down, except Jumpy. 

“Sir, we have arrived at Nandanvan,” said bus conductor Dolly the Deer, waking Jumpy up.

“I don’t know how I slept for so long. I never sleep when I am travelling,” said Jumpy, rubbing his eyes.

He put his hand under the seat to get his bag. But it was not there.

“Where is my bag? I had kept it right here!” said Jumpy shocked. 

“Are you sure, sir?” asked Dolly.

“Yes, I am! My bag had lots of valuable items in it. Please help me find it,” requested Jumpy.

Jumpy and Dolly searched the entire bus but could not find the bag. Jumpy got down and went straight to the police station to file a complaint. 

When he reported his loss, he was surprised to learn that his was not the first case. Many had filed a similar complaint—Teetu the Butterfly’s mobile phone was stolen, and so was Gotu the Goat’s wallet. Blacky  the Bear too had lost his bag. Curiously, they all had boarded the same bus, but on different days. The police had not been able to find the thief yet. 

After reaching Champakvan, Jumpy asked Cheeku the Rabbit for help in finding the thief. Cheeku agreed to help. Over the next few days, Cheeku spoke to others who had lost their belongings in the bus. 

One day, Cheeku disguised himself and boarded the bus in which the thefts had been taking place. Baddy the Fox too got into the bus and started selling chocolates. 

Baddy overheard Cheeku talking to a fellow passenger: “My bag has lots of expensive items. I didn’t want to travel in this bus, but I had no other option.” 

Cheeku bought some chocolates from Baddy and ate one. After some time, he fell asleep. Baddy sat behind Cheeku and gently removed Cheeku’s bag from under the seat. After making sure that no one was looking, Baddy threw the bag out of the window. Cheeku suddenly got up and caught Baddy. 

“I…I thought you were asleep,” said Baddy nervously.

“No, I only pretended to fall asleep so that I could catch you red-handed,” said Cheeku. “And did you actually think my bag had something valuable? It was stuffed with some old newspapers,” he said, removing his disguise. 

Cheeku immediately informed the police. As soon as the police arrived, Cheeku explained everything.

“When I spoke to the passengers who had lost their valuables on this bus, I found one thing in common—all the passengers had fallen asleep during the journey. They had all bought toffees from Baddy which, I figured, must have been drugged,” said Cheeku.

“But we could never find any evidence of Baddy stealing the bags. Even when we searched all the passengers, we did not find anything,” said inspector Sheroo the Tiger puzzled. 

“Exactly! That is why I decided to travel on the bus and find out. Baddy steals the bags or mobile phone and throws them out at a particular spot. His assistant then collects the items from there and they share the loot,” explained Cheeku. 

“Baddy would coat some chocolates with sleeping powder, which he would sell separately to the passengers he wanted to steal from,” he added. 

The police handcuffed Baddy. They found all the stolen items at his house which were returned to their respective owners. Everyone in Champakvan then thanked Cheeku.