THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state lotteries department’s Vishu Bumper lottery winners have been finally identified. On Monday morning, two Tamil Nadu natives arrived at the department office and submitted the winning ticket. Dr M Pradeep Kumar and his relative N Ramesan who won the Rs 10-crore prize bought the ticket from the Thiruvananthapuram international airport premises.
Both of them hail from Manavalakurichi in Kanyakumari district. They were at the airport to receive Ramesan’s brother-in-law who came from abroad. Pradeep told mediapersons that his immediate priority was to pay off some debts.
They were busy with the final rites of a relative and could check the result only on Friday though the draw was on May 22. He works with the Tamil Nadu government. Both Pradeep and Ramesan had the habit of trying their luck but had to be content with small prizes so far. The net earning of the winners, after deducting the tax, is Rs 6.16 crore.
The winners have staked a joint claim on the ticket. Hence, the department will remit the amount to a bank account jointly owned by them. Since the winners hail from another state, they have to produce notary attestated identity proof as well. The winning ticket was sold by the Rangan-Jaseentha couple hailing from Valiyathura. The couple usually sells tickets at the airport at night when a large number of international flight services are operated.
The commission for the agent, Rs 1.20 crore, will go to the person who bought the ticket from the Lotteries Office. It is learnt that the agent was Suresh Kurup and the couple was his subagents. A sum of 2.64 crore is deducted as income tax. As many as 43.86 lakh tickets of the bumper lottery were sold.