Thiruvananthapuram: Five days have passed since the State Lotteries Department announced the results of the Thiruvonam Bumper-2016, but the winner of the first prize of Rs 8 crore has not yet come forward.
While the entire state is waiting out of sheer curiosity for him/her to turn up to claim the prize, the Lottery Department’s office in Thrissur, has reasons to be anxious.
Onam bumper lottery result: someone just won Rs 8 crore jackpot and does not know it
As the winning lottery (No. TC 788368) was sold in Thrissur, the office receives hundreds of calls daily from different parts of the state to query on the jackpot winner. “From morning to evening, we get calls from agents, regular customers as well as general public. We are forced to depute a person only for answering the calls,” an officer at the Thrissur district office of the State Lotteries Department told Onmanorama.
The ticket in question was sold by the Johnson and Johnson ticket agency at Sakthan Nagar in Thrissur town.
There has been all-round speculation and rumors after the lucky winner failed to claim the prize. One spreading rumor say the winner was a lorry driver hailing from Salem, while the other suggested that the prize winning ticket was accidentally burned along with trash by the buyer’s family. Most of the phone calls were made to ‘confirm’ the rumor, the official said.
As the agent had bought about 200 tickets along with other tickets on wholesale, he does not remember the person who purchased TC 788368.
If nobody claims the prize money, it will automatically go to the state government.
As per rules, the prize winning ticket can be surrendered to a branch of any nationalized, scheduled or state/ district co-operative banks, located in India or abroad. A claim application along with a photostat copy of both sides of the ticket, two passport size photographs of the prize-winner duly attested by a Gazetted Officer/Notary, self-attested copy of the PAN card, and the identity card, should also be submitted to the bank or the Lottery Directorate within two months of declaration of results.
After a thorough scrutiny of the documents, the amount will be transferred to the winner’s bank account.
A receipt for the prize money in the prescribed form should be signed by the winner, the rule stipulates.
