Kerala labourer bought lottery ticket after failing to get loan, wins ₹12 crore bumper prize

P Rajan’s wife Rajani used to regularly fight with him over his habit of buying lottery tickets.

A daily wage labourer in Kerala was upset and disappointed after a bank rejected his loan last month. This was going to be his fourth loan to cough up interest for his three other loans.

P Rajan with his family after winning the ₹12 crore lottery.

P Rajan (53) left the bank empty-handed but took a lottery on his way back home.

Little did he know that he would win the first (bumper) prize of ₹12 crore in the Christmas-New Year lottery.

Rajan’s wife Rajani used to regularly fight with him over his habit of buying lottery tickets. But this time she was not ready to pick up a fight with him because the ticket priced ₹300 changed their life forever.

The draw was held on Monday and the state lottery department later identified that the first prize winning ticket was sold at an outlet in Koothuparambha in Kannur district. There was suspense for a day as nobody came up to claim the hefty money. On Tuesday afternoon, Rajan jotted down his ticket number and went to an outlet near his house to check if he had won.

He couldn’t believe his eyes - his ticket numbered ST 269609 got the bumper prize of ₹12 crore, highest prize money in state lottery history.

“When I returned home my wife was not willing to believe. She thought I was joking. When people came around to congratulate me she realised it,” said Rajan. He said his first priority was to pay off his ₹7 lakh loans and then complete his half-finished house. He was forced to divert his small fund when his eldest daughter got married last year.

A rubber tapper by profession, Rajan was struggling to make both ends meet and his son was forced to discontinue his studies to help keep the hearth fires burning. His youngster daughter is a plus-two student. After tax and agent commission he’s likely to get around between ₹7 and 8 crore.

Interestingly, tax on liqour (it is 300 per cent in Kerala) and revenue from lottery are major earnings of the state government. Every day there is a lottery and more than 2 lakh people are engaged in the trade as agents and retailers. Many differently-abled and others eke out a living by selling lucky numbers.