Woman lottery vendor robbed of 120 tickets; 12 turn out to be winners

Kottayam: A beleaguered woman lottery vendor in Ettumanoor near here had a shock of her life when a youth snatched 120 lottery tickets and fled. Curiously, 12 of the tickets later turned out to be winners. Raji Raju, a resident of Kothanalloor, depends on selling lottery tickets to make ends meet.

The incident occurred on Tuesday afternoon near Peroor Junction, close to Ettumanoor, when a young man approached her under the pretext of purchasing tickets. He suddenly snatched 120 Dhanalakshmi lottery tickets, each priced at ₹50, and ran away. Despite Raji's attempts to chase him down, the miscreant managed to escape.

When Raji approached Ettumanoor police station she was asked to file a written complaint. She went back to get the complaint written by an acquaintance in an office nearby where she sells tickets. When she returned to the police station with the written complaint it was almost 2 hours late after the incident and there was no trace of the culprit.

Raji was then asked to follow up case on Saturday. When the lottery results were announced on Wednesday, she discovered that 12 of the stolen tickets had won ₹500 each. Raji confirmed that the tickets bore the official seal of the Matha Lottery Agency. Raju said his wife had to pawn her ear-rings to remit the cost of the tickets at the lottery agency.

Raji and her husband, Raju, who is wheelchair-bound, have been selling lottery tickets for the past 13 years for a living. The couple has three children. Despite his ailments, Raju continues to sell tickets in Kothanalloor a few kilometres away. 

Though the police initially maintained that they could not find any CCTV visuals of the incident, they have reportedly strengthened the investigation into the incident.