KOCHI: This 38-year-old lottery seller from Aluva in Ernakulam district seems to have got the Midas touch.
Last year, Smija K Mohan had grabbed attention after she sought out Aluva native Chandran, who had entrusted his ticket with her, and handed it over after he won Rs 6 crore. Now, nearly a year on, a 62-year-old woman from Hyderabad has won the second prize of Rs 25 lakh through the ticket sold by her.
Smija, who herself has a lot of financial problems, was lauded for her honest action after she handed over the winning ticket to the buyer.
"This year's Summer Bumper ticket that I sold to Subbarao Padmam, a Hyderabad-based Tamil native, won the second prize of Rs 25 lakh," said Smija.
According to her, the 62-year-old retired bank employee struck up a friendship with her when she came down to Kerala on a pilgrimage trip. "She (Padmam) had heard about me through social media and newspapers reports that appeared last year after the ticket sold by me grabbed the Rs 6 crore first prize. So she sought me out when she came to Aluva and we exchanged contact numbers," said Smija.
According to Padmam, they became Facebook friends and kept in contact. "Whenever I'm in Kerala I bought tickets from her," revealed Padmam.
Smija said Padmam buys single tickets or an entire bundle. "It depends on her mood. This time she called me over the phone from Hyderabad asked me to sell her a few and hold on to them since she was planning to come down to Kerala. She paid the cost of the tickets through account transfer. After the ticket won the prize, I contacted her and she came down. It feels great to score big wins back to back."
Last year on March 24, Smija hit headlines after she handed over the prize-winning ticket in her possession as Chandran had booked the ticket over the phone. Many organisations and individuals came forward with offers after hearing her story.
Smija said after the story about her handing over the winning ticket to Chandran came out, she was flooded with phone calls praising her honesty. "However, people don’t understand that in this business, honesty is all that matters. We have to be honest since we are being sustained by the hard-earned money customers pay to buy the tickets,” she said.