Piravom, Kerala: A retired Assistant Sub-Inspector from Pazhoor has approached the police and the court claiming that he lost the ticket that won the ₹20 crore Christmas-New Year bumper lottery.

KK Sajimon, who claims he is the winner, said the winning ticket (No. XC 138455), drawn on January 24, had been kept under a ghee container inside his vehicle.

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After retiring from the police, Sajimon has been running a travel agency. According to him, a group of Ayyappa devotees from Visakhapatnam, who travelled in his vehicle to Sabarimala, had forgotten the ghee container. He later sent the container to them by courier on January 30 at their request, but claims he accidentally sent his lottery ticket along with it.

Sajimon said he realised the mistake on February 1 and contacted the courier agency seeking the return of the parcel, but it could not be retrieved. The container was delivered to the owner in Visakhapatnam on February 4.

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He stated that he had purchased the ticket from Kanjirappally on December 1 while visiting a relative in Mundakayam and had written his name and address on the back of it.

Following his complaint, Piravom police conducted an inspection at the courier office. Sajimon has also approached the Piravom First Class Magistrate Court seeking a directive to examine the establishment’s CCTV footage. The hard disk containing the surveillance footage has been produced before the court.

He has further moved the High Court seeking steps to verify the ticket with the lottery department and to probe any possible fraud.

Meanwhile, there are indications that the person who won the winning ticket has already submitted it at the lottery office in Thiruvananthapuram.