Lottery windfall for Bengal labourer after returning from

A poor labourer from Murshidabad district was staring at an uncertain future after returning from Kerala, one of the states hard-hit by COVID-19, when he won Rs 1 crore in a lottery.

Izarul Seikh, 30, of Mirzapur village in Beldanga police station area was working in Kerala and returned home a week back after the number of coronavirus-affected people started soaring in the southern state, a police officer said on Sunday.

Seikh has a little daughter, wife, rickshaw-puller father and mother at home.

As he went to Beldanga town, about 5 km from his village on Wednesday, he bought a lottery ticket of a state that has prize money of Rs 1 crore.

He discovered the next day that he won it.

Seikh met the officer-in-charge of Beldanga police station and requested him for help including security as the news got around and hundreds of people crowded his modest dwelling.

"I want to start a business with a part of that amount and also build a house and ensure my family is not hard-pressed any more," he said.

The prize money has been deposited at a bank account at the advice of the police officer and his well-wishers, he said.

"I was staring at a bleak future the day I came from Kerala. The rate for a daily labourer is Rs 500-600 in Murshidabad, which is half of what we earn in Kerala. Now the Almighty has blessed me," he said.