Telangana farmer wins big at Dubai Raffle draw

Dubai, Aug 04: Vilas Rikkala, a farmer from Hyderabad who left the UAE 45 days ago after failed attempt for a job won the Dh15 million Big Ticket raffle on Saturday night (August 3) in .

Rikkala won the the Fantastic 15 Million series 206 draw, drawn on August 3, 2019 in the UAE capital.

On Saturday, he was informed that he has won the huge prize money.

According to the report, Rikkala and his wife do farm jobs in India and their annual earnings from tilling rice fields amount to about Rs 3,00,000 (USD 4,306). Rikkala had previously lived in Dubai and worked as a driver.

An inhabitant of Jakranpalli village in Nizamabad district, Rikkala has two daughters. He has been buying raffle tickets in the UAE for two years, including the Dubai Shopping Festival raffle tickets while he worked in the UAE.

After his job efforts failed, he borrowed Rs 20,000 from his wife and gave the money to his friend Ravi, who works in Abu Dhabi. Ravi bought three tickets under Rikkala's name.

"My wife, Padma, is the reason for the celebration," Rikkala was quoted as saying by the report.