Thaindian News

(Lead)

Mumbai, March 3 (IANS) Inspired by the recent budgetary sops to farmers, Sudhakar Nilkant Telange, who won Rs.60.4 million ($1.49 million) in an online lottery in Maharashtra, plans to buy a farm with the prize money. Telange, an accountant in Nagpur, appeared Monday at the Mumbai headquarters of the Playwin Super Lotto Online Lottery to collect the prize.

“I am not at all scared by this providential win. I have seen lots of cash in my life as I used to work in a liquor shop. Daily, I used to count and pack up bundles of millions of rupees. However, the difference this time is that this money belongs to me,” he told IANS, deadpan.

Telange’s ticket was picked as the lucky winner during the ‘Thursday Jackpot’ of the lottery last week. But the winner remained untraceable for four days after the announcement.

Recounting his quick leap to megabucks, Telange said that as usual, he had bought two Playwin tickets for Rs.10 each Feb 28.

“The following day - the leap year figure of Feb 29 - I learnt that my ticket had been declared the lucky one for the top jackpot,” he said with a tired smile.

Telange confesses that he is a compulsive gambler and buys two tickets every week. Usually, he would not bother to inform anybody at home, but last Thursday, he did happen to mention it to his wife.

This is the second time Telange’s is winning money at Playwin - in December 2003, he had won Rs.65,000.

When asked what he planned to do with the money, Telange said he planned to buy some agricultural in view of the sops given to farmers in the union budget. He plans to donate some money to temples or charitable organizations.

The ticket retailer D.K. Sahu has also rushed to Mumbai to claim his one percent commission - that works out to Rs.600,000.

Telange is the first person from Nagpur to hit the jackpot though at least 25 people have won smaller amounts ranging from Rs.100,000 to Rs.400,000. Twenty-three people have hit the ‘Thursday Jackpot’ of varying amounts till now.