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Anantapur beggar hits jackpot in Kerala
Lady Luck smiled on a 35-year-old physically-challenged beggar who had come to Kerala seeking \"better pastures\" from Andhra Pradesh with the man winning prize money of Rs 65 lakh of a state-run lottery. In a rags-to-riches story, Ponnayya, a migrant alm-seeker who was living in suburb Vellarada, won the jackpot of Rs 65 lakh in the state-run Akshaya lottery.
Gets first prize of 65 lakh in State run lottery
Thiruvananthapuram: Lady Luck smiled on a 35-year-old physically-challenged beggar who had come to Kerala seeking "better pastures" from Andhra Pradesh with the man winning prize money of Rs 65 lakh of a state-run lottery. In a rags-to-riches story, Ponnayya, a migrant alm-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 to take him home after completing the procedures of the transaction of the prize money.
The incident came close on the heels of a 22-year-old migrant worker from West Bengal had won Rs 1 crore Kerala government lottery last month.Hailing from Anantapur, Ponnayya, once a mason, had turned into begging to look
after his wife and three children when he lost a leg in an accident.
He used to send money, collected through begging via a bank, to his family and would save some amount of money to take lottery tickets every month. "It was the local lottery agent who sold him tickets realised that Ponnayya had won the first prize. The agent had tracked him and conveyed the happy 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. The official said Ponnayya is still at Vellarada and he would go back to AP with his father and brother soon.
