PALAKKAD: It would seem that lady luck had smiled upon Imam Hussein, a migrant worker who came to Kerala in search of a livelihood about five years ago, when he decided to purchase five state lottery tickets last week. Imam, who has a habit of buying lottery tickets using a portion of his wages, is now the proud winner of the Nirmal lottery bumper prize of Rs 70 lakh.
A native of Malda in West Bengal who has been working at Edathanattukara and its suburbs as a daily wager over the past few years, Imam said he wanted to use the prize money to build a house and open a shop of his own at his hometown.
Meanwhile, DySP V A Krishnadas told TNIE that Imam had kept his luck a secret, until he later called up the police control room and sought help on Friday evening. Subsequently, police personnel from the Nattukal station went to Edathanattukara and brought him to the station.
“We contacted the co-operative bank immediately. But the bank officials said they would collect the ticket on Saturday. As Imam was afraid to part with his ticket, he stayed at the police station all night,” the DySP said.
P Sreenivasan, secretary of the Allanallur Service Co-operative Bank who arrived at the police station on Saturday, told mediapersons that the ticket had been collected and would be remitted at the Kerala Bank. “As documentation is necessary, Imam Hussein has been asked to bring us his Aadhaar and PAN cards, which are in his native place. Once the identification documents are received and processed, the amount will be credited to his bank account in two to three months,” he explained.
Imam said he already conveyed the happy news to his family and friends back home.