Highlights
- Debt-Ridden Kerala Man Wins Rs 70 Lakh Lottery, Hours After Getting Bank’s Loan Recovery Notice
- He owed more than Rs 9 lakh to a bank, which he had taken as a loan to build a house.
- But due to his financial condition, Pookunju was unable to pay back the loan and the bank sent him a notice on Wednesday to initiate the proceedings to attach his property.
Wednesday, October 12, could very well be the most eventful day in the life of Pookunju, a naive of Minagapalli in Kerala’s Kollam district.
The 40-year-old fish seller’s day went from buying a lottery to getting a loan recovery notice to being declared as the winner of the Kerala Akshaya lottery AK 570 which has a first prize of Rs 70 lakh.
Lottery, recovery notice, and luck
Pookunju who made a living by selling fish on his two-wheeler bought a lottery ticket while he was returning from work on Wednesday.
When he reached home, Pookunju was shocked to learn that there was a loan recovery notice waiting for him.
He owed more than Rs 9 lakh to a bank, which he had taken as a loan to build a house.
But due to his financial condition, Pookunju was unable to pay back the loan and the bank sent him a notice on Wednesday to initiate the proceedings to attach his property.
Kerala Akshaya lottery AK 570
Pookunju who was left heartbroken at the prospect of losing his house got another pleasant surprise just hours later when his brother called to inform him that he is the winner of the Akshaya AK 570 lottery.
Debt-ridden man saves house with Rs 1 cr lottery
In July there was a similar incident in Kerala when a debt-ridden man became the winner of a Rs 1 crore lottery, hours before he was to sell his house to pay off the loans.
Mohammed Bava, a native of Manjeshwar in Kasargod district in Northern Kerala had put his newly built house on sale to pay off his Rs 45 lakh debt.
But since it was a distress sale, he was forced to sell the 2,000-sq-ft house, built eight months ago for Rs 40 lakhs.
He was planning to move to a rented house with his family after selling his dream house.
A potential buyer had agreed to pay the advance for the house on July 25, but hours before the deal Bava was told that he was the winner of the Rs 1 crore Fifty-Fifty lottery run by the Kerala government.
According to Bava, he had purchased four Fifty-Fifty lottery tickets around 1 pm, while waiting for the broker and home buyer.
The lottery draw happened at 3 pm, just two hours before Bava was to accept the advance to sell his house.
With a guaranteed Rs 63 lakhs in his account after the deduction of taxes and agent commission, Bava managed to save his dream house, just in time.
