Abu Dhabi: In a literal rags-to-riches story, 37 Keralites from India were among 40 Qatar-based Indian expatriates won the grand prize of 10 million Dirham (Rs 20,22,90,913) in the Big Ticket Abu Dhabi series 232 draw held a day earlier on Sunday.
The winner of the draw was Naheel Nizamudeen, who hails from Kerala and is an accounts representative in Qatar. He will share the win with 39 colleagues, and his share is 250,000 Dirham (around 50 million Indian rupees).
In total, there are 40 people who share the Rs 20 crore, and 37 are Indians among them. All of them are from Kerala and the other 3 are from Bangladesh. All the winners from Kerala work in different departments of the hypermarket accounts like purchasing and sales. They were all facing financial crises, and the lucky draw could not have come at a better time.
Nizamudeen also had no idea that he was the winner of the raffle that went live on Sunday night after it had been announced. Initially, he could not be reached by phone after the announcement, but organizers were finally able to reach him on Monday, after calling his colleague.
Nizamudeen’s father lives in India, unfortunately, his mother passed away a few years ago. “She would have been so happy to hear about my victory,” he told Gulf News.
“We are all from middle-class families and have financial issues. So, the future of 40 families have been secured with this jackpot. Our core members are Rasak Alungal, Alikutty, Subash Somasekaran, Abdul Kadher,” Khaleej Times quoted Shinoy Othayoth Kizhakk, a roommate of Nihaal.
This is the second time this year that a group from Qatar has won the raffle draw. In August, a 20-member group of Indian expatriates from Qatar had won Dirham 15 million (Rs 30,34,17,380).