THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A 33-year-old businessman from Puducherry, who was in Thiruvananthapuram as part of his Sabarimala pilgrimage, is the lucky winner of the Rs 20 crore Christmas-New Year bumper, the second-highest lottery prize in Kerala.
The man refused to divulge his name or address to the media while handing over the prize-winning ticket to the Lottery Directorate in Thiruvananthapuram with the required documents.
He had purchased tickets, including the winning one, from a sub-agent at Lakshmi Centre East Nada of Padmanabha Swamy temple. The businessman from Puducherry, however, kept the outcome a secret and approached the Lottery Directorate only on Friday.
“There were media persons outside the directorate and seeing them he got panicked and requested us not to share his name or address,” a Lottery Directorate official said.
The Christmas-New Year Bumper is the lottery ticket with the second-highest prize money after the Thiruvonam bumper.
This year the Christmas-New Year Bumper had a first prize of Rs 20 crores and a second prize of Rs 1 crore each to 20 persons.
The winner of the first prize will be getting around Rs 12 crore after deduction of taxes and agent’s commission.