When Sukumariamma, a street vendor in Thiruvananthapuram won first prize worth Rs 1 crore following the draw of Fifty-Fifty Kerala state lotteries, she thought she was lucky. It was not to be. Kannan, the lottery seller who sold her the ticket, allegedly lied to her and took the top prize winning ticket from her.
She didn't give up and filed a case and on Saturday, the Judicial first class magistrate court issued an order in her favour. She got the ticket back and she was able to produce it in the Lottery directorate just in the nick of time. She won the prize on May 15 and winning ticket ought to have been produced within 30 days. She managed to produce the ticket promptly on Saturday.
After deducting commission and tax, Sukumariamma will receive Rs 63 lakhs. Mudakkal G S Satheesan Nair her advocate said that the matter has been settled and a nominal share will be given to Kannan, the ticket seller. ''We initially filed a petition under section 451 to get the custody of the ticket. Since we had to meet the 30 day timeline to produce the ticket, we then went for filing another petition for compoundable offences by which cases can be settled with court's approval. Although we got a verdict in our favour, there was another condition by which ticket would be returned only after 30 days period for filing an appeal. Our prayer to waive that condition was accepted and we received the ticket,'' said Mudakkal G S Satheesan Nair.
Sukumariamma has also agreed to withdraw cases against Kannan. Based on the complaint filed by Sukumariamma, Museum police filed a case against Kannan on charges of cheating and criminal breach of trust. After obtaining ticket from Sukumariamma, Kannan had signed on the back of the ticket while producing it in a bank at Ambalamukku. '' This made him the holder of the ticket and that's why we thought of a settlement since if the case dragged, meeting the timeline of 30 days to furnish the ticket at the lottery directorate would have been difficult,'' said Nair.
Sukumariamma said that she was glad to win the ticket back. Ticket number - FG 348822 of won the first prize worth Rs 1 crore. She took 12 tickets of the same series for Rs 1200 on May 14.