A 40-year-old Keralite working as a finance manager in Dubai has scooped the famous Dubai Duty-Free (DDF) Millennium Millionaire draw worth Rs 7 crore ($1million).
A native of Kerala's Kottayam district, Ratheesh Kumar Raveendran Nair, has won the bumper bonanza. Kumar has been working in Dubai for over a decade and has been trying his luck with the DDF raffle from the past two years. He bought the current lottery ticket on April 2 but had very few hopes on ever winning it.
According to reports, Ratheesh said that he is still in shock as this has come as a big surprise. He was unaware of being the winner till the DDF authorities contacted him at around 11 am on Wednesday and told him that he had bagged the raffle.
Ratheesh said that he was unable to believe the fortune he was favoured with and cross-checked the lottery number many times before confirming it. His friend looked up in the official page of the Dubai Duty-Free and found that he had actually won the lottery.
The expatriate lives with his wife in the desert paradise. He said that it took more effort to convince my wife Ramya that I had actually won the prize, he told Manorama Online.
Although Ratheesh has now become a billionaire, he has not planned anything to do with the fortune. He plans to help some people back in his homeland.
Ratheesh said that Dubai will always be close to him as the city has offered him many things, but making him an overnight billionaire is something totally different that too during the holy month of Ramadan.
The lucky draw was conducted by the Dubai Duty-Free Executive Vice Chairman and CEO Colm McLoughlin together with Salah Tahlak, Executive Vice President-Corporate Services and Sinead El Sibai, Senior Vice President-Marketing.
