Kochi: On Monday evening, the winner of the Onam Bumper Kerela Lottery was revealed to be an auto-driver, winning a whopping amount of Rs. 12 crores.
The auto driver, identified as Jayapalan P R, hails from Maradu in Kochi.
Jayapalan stays near the Kottaaram Bhagavathy temple and is fondly called Kannan. He can be found at the Ambedkar junction stand at Maradu.
Jayapalan is a simple and hard-working man who comes from a poor family. He earns his livelihood by driving an auto-rickshaw and feeds a large family which includes his 95-year old mother, his wife and two sons.
One of his sons is an electrician while the other is a doctor in the field of homeopathy. His wife, Mani, works as a sweeper in Chottanikkara homeopathy hospital.
On buying the lottery ticket, Jayapalan said, " I bought the prize-winning ticket from Meenakshi lotteries near Statue Junction on September 10 as I felt that it was a fancy number."
He expressed that the lottery win has come as a blessing to him and his family. He also added that though there were rumours about the winner of the lottery he was silent about it as he had the real lottery ticket with him. Winning the lottery came as a big surprise to him and he said that he has not yet decided what to do with the huge sum of money.
He said, "I have vehicle and housing loans to be repaid and I will utilize the rest of the amount productively after discussing with my family."
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