Dh15 million winner of Abu Dhabi Big Ticket raffle series number 209 has been found. Sreenu Sreedharan Nair, as believed earlier, isn't in India but lives in the UAE.

There was lot of confusion on Sunday night after the big announcement as the persons whose phone numbers were provided on the ticket number 098165 failed to show any familiarity with the name of winner or awareness about Big Ticket draw and Richard, who conducts the draw.

Big Ticket Abu Dhabi, UAE: Your ultimate guide to participating

Nair, all of 28 years, works at a private company in Dubai. And the Keralite will be sharing the prize money with 21 others waho paid for the ticket. All of them earn monthly salary of Dh1,500."This is unexpected and unbelievable. I and my friends, who are partners, still don't believe we are winners. This will take some time to sink in. We all have put Dh25, two persons share is extra and gets adjusted with the next series. We have been buying tickets for 18 months now."

Nair is inundated with congratulatory phone calls. And talking about the wild goose chase to find him, he said: "I wasn't aware about the announcement. The ticket was bought using card of a person who is in Kerala and hence those numbers were kept. He got confused (with Richard's voice). Thankfully all is fine now. I came to know when others friends came to congratulate me at night."

However, life continues as usual for Nair and his friends.

"We are all workers. We earn in range of Dh1,500 or so after our overtime. I am working in Dubai for six years now. I hope to finish the pending construction work of my home. I have few loans to settle. My sister is married. My parents are keeping well. On personal note, this jackpot has come at right time for all of us. Now we are all looking towards the big day when we will be in Abu Dhabi to receive the cheque next month."

Dramatic chase at night

The draw was held in outdoor settings of Abu Dhabi International Airport. And when Richard rang up on the first number from the ticket, the person replied that he didn't know anyone by the name Sreenu. "No, this is not Sreenu but Sanish Kumar. I don't know Sreenu. I don' know Richard. This is wrong number." Kumar is the person who had bought the ticket but got confused with late night call (10 pm India time). Richard tried the second mobile number, the reply was blunt: "What's your problem. Please call me after half-an-hour."

Big Ticket organisers went back to their office to find a solution to reach the actual winner.

"We will check who the actual winner is. We think the second number is of the winner's friend. We doubt but will have to verify in some way."

They burnt midnight oil and finally got through to the actual winners on Monday. But chasing and tracking winners has become a routine for team at Big Ticket. Last month's Dh12 million winner Mohammad Fayaz J.A. could be reached only in fifth attempt.

ashwani@khaleejtimes.com