As it would be in a movie, the life of a 30-year-old rickshaw driver in Kerala took an exciting turn on Saturday. The auto-rickshaw driver bought a lottery ticket in the evening and by next morning,
he was richer by Rs. 25 crores. Interestingly, he bought this ticket from his two-year-old son’s piggy bank.
The man said when he went to buy the lottery ticket from the agency, he needed Rs. 500 rupees to buy the ticket. Since he didn’t have money, he took money from his son’s piggy bank.
He said before driving a rickshaw, he used to work as a cook in a canteen and then started driving a rickshaw to support his family. he was expecting a visa for Malayasia by next week, where he was to go for working as a cook in a hotel. Lady luck smiled at him though and he won Rs.25 crore lottery. He had asked for a loan from a bank to go to Malaysia, which he has asked them not to proceed with. He will get Rs 15.75 crore after tax from the prize.
The interesting thing about this lottery is that the Onam bumper was won last year also by an autorickshaw driver named Jayapalan from Kochi.
Anup said he wanted to buy the ticket from his cousin who is also a lottery agent, but ultimatley bought from Bhagwati agency. He said, he was not happy with the ticket number I chose earlier. He said 750605 seems like a lucky number to me.
Driver Anup’s wife Maya told him about winning the lottery on Sunday. Talking about the future plans regarding the 25 crores lottery he won, Anup said he would repay the money borrowed first. he as plans of buying a nice house and help his cousing build a better house. I will help other relatives lalso, he said. He has abandonned plan to work as a cook in malayasia and instread wants to his own hotel in his homwtown.
Asked if he would buy a lottery ticket again, he said it is a thrill and an addiction that no one can give up. Once an addiction takes hold, it is very difficult to quit. Once you take a lottery and if you get even a small prize in it, your urge intensifies, he said.
66.5 lakh lottery tickets were sold in the state. Initially only 65 lakh lottery tickets were printed and additional tickets were printed as the demand for such multi-crore prize tickets increased.
