Kerala lottery vendor's honesty helps man battling daughter's cancer treatment

Even while fighting to stay on his feet in a crowded bus to Kanhangad, Kasaragod native Sajith T, a lottery ticket seller, managed to check the Kerala lottery draw results on his phone. The second prize number stunned him. Carefully pulling out the three tickets he had kept inside his handbag, Sajith cross-checked the numbers once again. There it was: One among them, Dhanalakshmi DK 765564, had won ₹30 lakh!

Without wasting a moment, Sajith dialled Biju, a local driver for whom he had reserved the ticket. At the time, Biju was at the Regional Cancer Centre in Thiruvananthapuram, where his daughter was undergoing treatment. Interestingly, Biju had neither paid for the ticket nor even seen it. A day earlier, he had just asked Sajith to keep aside three tickets from a serial number of his choice. One among those tickets went on to fetch the biggest prize ever sold through Sajith’s small lottery stall.

“I do buy lottery tickets occasionally. On May 19, I saw a WhatsApp status posted by Sajith showing the ticket numbers he had. I asked him to keep three tickets from a particular series. But I never personally selected the tickets,” recalled Biju, who has staying in Thiruvananthapuram along with his wife Vijayalakshmi and daughter Anvitha for the latter’s treatment.

“As I was busy in the hospital, I even forgot to pay Sajith for the tickets,” he said.

Biju, who earlier worked as a driver, had recently sold his goods carrier vehicle due to financial difficulties. He later joined a local company as a driver before his daughter was diagnosed with blood cancer five months ago. Since then, he stopped working and shifted to Thiruvananthapuram for her treatment at RCC.

“She was advised continuous treatment for six months. We couldn’t return home or continue any work during this period. Local people helped us raise money, while the rest was managed through government schemes,” Biju said.

“It was then that Sajith called and shared the happy news. He is my friend and I trust him completely,” he added.

Recalling the moment he discovered the winning ticket, Sajith said it was around 3.15 pm on May 20. “Every day around that time, I travel by bus to Kanhangad to purchase lottery tickets. Since the results are usually announced then, I check them while travelling,” he said.

The 36-year-old, who lives with his mother, has been running a small lottery shop named ‘Kulavan Lottery Stall’ at Parippally in Periya for the past seven years. Before that, he worked full-time as a coconut climber.

Eight years ago, however, his life changed after he became victim of a brutal wasp attack while at work. He suffered more than 20 stings and severe injuries, leaving him bedridden for nearly a year.

“After that incident, I started experiencing breathing difficulties and other health issues,” Sajith said.
With support from local residents, he later started the lottery stall at Periya.

“I still do coconut climbing for a few hours in the morning whenever possible, as my health doesn’t permit long hours of work anymore. After that, I return to the stall, co-managed by a staff member,” he said.

According to Sajith, the highest prize previously sold through his shop was ₹1 lakh, won around four years ago. “Many people have won smaller amounts worth thousands. But this is the biggest prize from my stall so far,” he said.

After hearing about the prize, Biju asked Sajith to safely keep the ticket with him. It was only on Thursday that Biju’s brother collected the ticket from the shop on his behalf.

“I cannot travel home now as my daughter’s treatment is continuing. There is still one month’s time to submit the ticket, so I plan to do it in between,” Biju said with a laugh, adding that he paid the ticket amount only on Friday.

“He never even asked me for the money. I have been purchasing tickets from him for a long time and have previously won prizes like ₹5,000. That is why I asked him to keep tickets for me this time too, even though I was in Thiruvananthapuram. He always seems to have good numbers with him,” Biju said.

He hopes the prize money will bring much-needed relief to his family and help continue his daughter’s treatment. Anvitha is a Class 9 student, while her brother Aravind studies in Class 5.

“They truly deserve this,” Sajith said. “The family has been going through severe financial hardship. Their happiness gives me more joy than if I had personally won a ₹1 crore prize.”