The confusion over the winner of the Rs 12 crore Kerala Lotteries Onam bumper was resolved on Monday, September 20, evening with Kochi auto driver Jayapalan submitting the winning ticket and getting the certificate to this effect from his bank. After the winning number was announced on Sunday evening, with two state ministers overseeing the draw, a dozen TV channels got down to find the ticket's owner with the only information which they had was the ticket, priced at Rs 300, was sold from Meenakshi Lotteries, Tripunithura, which is on the outskirts of Kochi. Social media also joined in the search of locating the owner. On Monday, news surfaced that Dubai resident Malayali Sayed Alavi, who hails from Wayanad, had claimed that he was the winner.
TV channels started airing Alavi's interview, while his home at Wayanad saw a mad rush. Alavi, who has been working in Dubai as an assistant cook in a hotel for the past 11 years, said he will build a house of his own as presently he doesn't have one. Back home at his rented house in Wayanad, his family members were perplexed by the windfall. Even though the media had taken the statement of Alavi and his family at Wayanad, the winning ticket, according to Alavi, was with his friend who had purchased it and sent him a picture of it.
Alavi said that very soon his friend who purchased the ticket will be handing it over to his wife who lives in Wayanad. All eyes were on Alavi's friend and people were keen to know the details, like how he purchased the ticket as the place is more than 200 kilometers away from Kozhikode, where he does his own business.
Ahamed, who surfaced in Kozhikode, dismissed his friend's claims, saying that he got to know the result on Sunday and saw a picture of the winning ticket on Facebook. "I took a picture of it and sent it to Alavi. When he received it, he said he owes some money to a person and he told me he will say that he has got the first prize. I said 'I have no issues'. This is what happened and I don't know anything else," he said. However, amid all the hoopla, Jayapalan had already submitted the prize-winning ticket to his bank at Kochi and it gave a certificate that the ticket is with them. According to sources, the winner, after taxes, will be getting around Rs 7.50 crore for his investment of Rs 300 (the price of the Onam number ticket).