An Auto Driver From Kerala Hits Jackpot! Wins Rs 12 Cr In Thiruvonam Bumper Lottery

After so much drama, an auto driver foam Maradu in Kochi has emerged as the the winner of the Kerala government's Thiruvonam Bumper BR-81 lottery.

The results of the draw were announced on Sunday and the first prize is Rs 12 crore.

According to the Kerala state lottery department, the winning ticket number is TE 645465.

BCCL

The lucky winner has been identified as Jayapalan, who says he has already submitted the ticket in a bank.

The draw had landed in controversy after another person an NRI working as help in a Dubai hotel had initially claimed that he was the winner.

Though the winner of the biggest lottery prize in Kerala remained elusive for nearly a day, on Monday afternoon a man working in Dubai has claimed that he had bought the winning ticket.

Saithalavi, a native of Panamarm in Wayanad District had said that he had bought the ticket through a friend.

According to Saithalavi who has been working as a help in a Dubia hotel for the past four years, he had asked a friend to buy the ticket for him.

Manorama News

The friend who bought the ticket then sent a photo of it to Saithalavi on Whatsapp and he paid the price of it, through Google Pay.

Saithalavi had told local media that the winning ticket is still with his friend, who will soon hand it over to his family in Kerala.

However after Jayapalan emerged as the undisputed winner, Saithalavi said he made the claim based on the photo sent by his friend.

But the friend, Ahmed said he never bought any ticket for Saithalavi and only forwarded the photo of the winning lottery his friend. He also said that he has mentioned to Saithalavi that this was the winning ticket and added that he is unclear how and why his friend made the claims.

Saithalavi however is still insisting that he had asked Ahmed to buy him to lottery tickets, and paid him Rs 600 through UPI.

But according to Saithalavi, he lost the original photo of the ticket that Ahmed had sent on September 10 after he had to reset his phone.

As per the rules, the winning lottery ticket should be deposited in a bank, and the prize money will be transferred to the account of the winner.

The Rs 12 crores is the highest prize money offered by any lottery in Kerala.

BCCL

Out of this, the winner will get Rs 7.39 crores in hand, after the dedication of taxes and 10% as commission for the agency which sold the ticket.

The Kerala Lottery Department had printed some 54 lakh tickets, costing Rs 300 each, and all of them were reportedly sold before Sunday.

The Bumper lottery has also brought some Rs 126 crores in revenue for the Kerala Government.