KASARGOD: A debt-ridden painter won a Rs 1 crore lottery prize two hours before accepting the token money for a newly-built house in Manjeshwar.
“I just managed to save our house. I still cannot believe it,” said Mohammed Bava, 50, of Pavoor in Manjeshwar.Reeling under heavy debt, Bava and his wife Amina, 45, had put their 2,000-sq-ft house, built eight months ago, on the block.
At 5pm on Sunday, a party agreed to come home with the token amount to seal the deal. “I wanted Rs 45 lakh for the house because we had a debt of Rs 45 lakh. But the broker and the party were haggling for Rs 40 lakh,” said Bava. But the couple agreed to let go of the house that evening at whatever price, and move into a rented house with their two schoolgoing daughters.
Amina had taken a bank loan of Rs 10 lakh while the couple borrowed another Rs 20 lakh from their relatives to build the house. “Soon after that, we conducted the marriage of our second daughter and we were in a bigger debt,” Bava said.
The couple has five children, four daughters, and a son. Two elder daughters are married. Their 22-year-old son Nizamuddin found a job as a salesman in an electrical shop in Qatar three weeks ago. The two youngest daughters are studying in class 12.“For the past four months, we all were under so much stress. We could not repay our debts as there was very little income,” said Bava.
Around 1pm on Sunday, when the family was waiting for the buyer of their house, Bava stepped out and went to town. He bought four tickets of the Fifty-Fifty lottery run by the Kerala government.“I have been buying lotteries for the past four months hoping luck will end my misery,” he said.
At 3pm, the lot was drawn and Bava came to know that he hit the jackpot. After taxes, he will get around Rs 63 lakh. At 5pm, the real-estate broker came home with the man planning to buy the house. But it was not up for sale anymore.