A poor labourer from the Murshidabad district was staring at an uncertain future after returning from Kerala, one of the States hard-hit by COVID-19, when he won ₹1 crore in a lottery.
Izarul Seikh, 30, of Mirzapur village under the Beldanga police station area, was working in Kerala and returned home a week back after the number of the pandemic-affected people started soaring, a police officer said on Sunday.
Seikh has a little daughter, wife, rickshaw-puller father and mother at home.
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As he went to Beldanga town, about 5 km from his village on Wednesday, he bought a lottery ticket of a State that has prize money of ₹1 crore. He discovered the next day that he won it.
Hopes to start business
Seikh met the officer-in-charge of Beldanga police station and requested him for help, including security, as the news got around and hundreds of people crowded his modest dwelling.
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“I want to start a business with a part of that amount and also build a house and ensure my family is not hard-pressed any more,” he said.
The prize money has been deposited at a bank account at the advice of the police officer and his well-wishers, he said.
"I was staring at a bleak future the day I came from Kerala. The rate for a daily labourer is ₹500-600 in Murshidabad, which is half of what we earn in Kerala. Now the Almighty has blessed me,” he said.