Kerala man hits the jackpot in Dubai, wins ₹40 crore

Somarajan has been purchasing lottery tickets for the past three years. He said he never thought he would hit the jackpot.

Kerala’s Renjith Somarajan who works as a driver in Abu Dhabi hit a jackpot by winning 20 million dirham (approximately ₹40 crore) in a raffle draw in the United Arab Emirates, according to a report by news agency Khaleej Times. The 37-year-old man and nine other associates were declared joint winners of the prize.

Somarajan received numerous congratulatory calls from friends and loved ones. He said over the past few years life has been tough for him as he kept hopping jobs for a better salary. (HT Archive)

Somarajan has been purchasing lottery tickets for the past three years. He said he never thought he would hit the jackpot. What he hoped was to win the second and third prize. He also said that in his recent tickets, the second and third prizes were 3 million dirham and 1 million dirham, respectively.

Following the jackpot, Somarajan received numerous congratulatory calls from friends and loved ones. He said over the past few years life has been tough for him as he kept hopping jobs for a better salary.

“I have been here since 2008. I worked as a driver with Dubai Taxi and different companies. Last year, I worked as driver-cum-salesman with a company but with my salary deduction, it was a difficult life,” Somarajan said. Somarajan will share the amount with nine others whom he met only recently.

“We are a total of 10 people. Others are from different countries, like India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. They work in the valet parking of a hotel. We took the ticket under the ‘buy two and get one free’ offer. Each person pooled 100 dirhams. The ticket was taken in my name on June 29,” Somarajan further added.

He said he feels that people should continue to try their luck like he kept on believing that his lucky day would come.