{
  "id": 1259521,
  "title": "After 17 years as watchman in UAE, Kerala man wins Rs 26 lakh jackpot; buys another ticket",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/16/after-17-years-as-watchman-in-uae-kerala-man-wins-rs-26-lakh-jackpot",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-08-16T11:36:58.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Indian Express",
    "slug": "the-indian-express",
    "url": "https://indianexpress.com/article/trending/trending-globally/kerala-school-watchman-big-ticket-rs-26-lakh-10835839/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "Three Keralites have recently won substantial prizes in the Big Ticket raffle while working as watchmen in the United Arab Emirates. Saidalavi Kariodan Varichalil, a 44-year-old school watchman, won Dh100,000 (Rs 26 lakh) in Series 289, sharing the Dh500,000 prize pool with four others. He plans to send the money back to India to support his family and has already purchased another ticket for the next draw. Fellow winners Akhil Chandran R P and Sarath Sasidharan also took home Dh100,000 each, with Akhil having been participating in the draw for seven years and Sarath for over a decade. Both have plans to use their winnings for family and future financial needs.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}