Kolkata: A 22-year-old, Mofijul Rahana Sheikh bought a Kerala government lottery ticket from a physically challenged vendor around 10 days back and won Rs 1 crore in just three days after coming to Kerala’s Kozhikode looking for work.
Soon after realising his lottery win, Sheikh immediately went to the local Police Station along with the baggage seeking protection, fearing that other migrant workers in his group might attack him and take away the ticket. The Police then took him to a bank, where he opened an account and submitted the ticket, and soon after, he boarded a train back to West Bengal.
Adding to it is the bank manager’s warning that he will not be able to claim the prize money unless he secures a PAN card. “I have applied for a PAN card, the SBI bank manager where I submitted my cheque told me that I won’t get the money without a card,” says Sheikh.
And then there is the biggest question of all –What to do with the one crore rupees?
“My father says that we should buy some land with the money we get. I also want to invest in a saree business,” he says. Sheikh belongs to one of the 300 ‘taanti’ families of the village, whose predominant occupation is saree weaving.
“No one has studied beyond class 1 in our house. I want my daughter to go to an English medium school,” his wife says.
But perhaps the biggest irony is that this ‘slum dog millionaire’ is still a pauper, at least for the time being.
“People don’t believe that I haven’t got the money yet. They think I am being cautious,” he said adding that all he has in his wallet is Rs 200.
