Rickshaw puller Gaur Das

The fate of a poor rickshaw puller from West Bengal has changed overnight, thanks to Nagaland’s State Lottery.

Gaur Das, a rickshaw puller from Guskara in Purba Barddhaman district, has become star overnight after winning the first prize in State Lottery in Nagaland on Sunday.

Das won a lottery jackpot worth Rs 50 lakh.

Das and his union members were supposed to go for a picnic but the plan got cancelled due to rain.

He chanced upon the lottery ticket while returning home when a lottery seller almost forced him to buy that ticket, News 18 reported.

Das said he was initially reluctant as he only had Rs 70 in his pocket but when the seller repeatedly requested him, he gave in and bought the ticket for Rs 30.

On Sunday afternoon he went to a nearby lottery ticket shop to check the result and found that he had won the first prize of Rs 50 lakh.

He was overwhelmed and rushed home and shared the good news with his wife, Das said.

Das didn’t disclose this to his neighbour thinking of his safety. On Monday, he submitted the ticket to a nearby bank.

Moments after the news became public, people from nearby areas have been thronging to his house.

Das lives with his widowed mother, wife, two daughters and a son.

As his income is not sufficient to run the family of six, his wife and mother work as daily wage workers in the village.

His elder son is in class 3 and two daughters have just been admitted in primary school.