Mumbai businessman wins Rs12 crore in Playwin lottery

Mumbai-based Bharat Thakkar, who runs a real estate business in Mulund, is yet to decide what he will do with the Rs12 crore he won in a Playwin lottery on Tuesday.

 “Of course, I would like to spend some of it on an enjoyable pursuit and invest the rest,” said an unusually calm Thakkar whose phone has not stopped ringing ever since the news broke.
“I was a little hassled answering calls from so many people and may even have been rude to some,” he admitted, realising fully well that his offhandedness may be misconstrued as arrogance after having become a crorepati.

When he recently got a call from Playwin informing him about his win, the first thought to have crossed Thakkar’s mind was that someone was playing a prank. “It took me a while to realise that I had really won Rs11,87,68,226,” added Thakkar who is married and has two kids.

The other winners of the lottery are Bharat Vanarase, a 59-year-old bank cashier from Pune who won nearly Rs8crores, and 40-year-old Satish Algur from Kolkata who will take home nearly Rs2 crores.

Both  winners, who are from middle-class backgrounds, felt that they can now secure the future of their families. “We are giving away Rs23 crores in all as prize money to the three winners. It is for the first time in the history of lotto gaming in India that such a big amount was handed over in one go,” claims Rahul Tangri, vice president, Pan India Network Ltd, the company which runs the Playwin lottery.