Homeless man wins Rs 65 lakh lottery in Kerala

In a rags to riches story, Ponnaiyya, a migrant alms-seeker who was living in suburb Vellarada, won the jackpot of Rs 65 lakh in the state-run Akshaya lottery. A regular punter of lotteries, he also won a series of consolation prizes to the tune of Rs 90,000 in the lots, drawn on Wednesday. 

After being informed by police, his father and brother came here on Thursday to take him home after completing the procedures of the transaction of the prize money. Hailing from Ananthapur district of Andhra, Ponnaiyya, once a mason, had taken up begging to look after his wife and three children when he lost a leg in an accident. 

According to Vellarada police, he used to beg in and around the suburb and sleep at a bus stand at Marthandam, located on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border. He used to send money, collected through begging via a bank, to his family and would save some money to buy lottery tickets every month. “It was the local lottery agent who realised that Ponnaiyya had won the first prize. 

The agent had tracked him down and conveyed the news and took him to the police station considering his safety,” Sub Inspector D Shibu Kumar said. The police also took him into the nearest branch of State Bank of India for further procedures, he said.