Jaipur veggie vendor wins Rs 11-crore Punjab Diwali lottery

A street vendor from Kotputli near Jaipur, Amit Sehra, hit the jackpot by winning the Rs 11 crore Punjab State Diwali Bumper 2025 on October 31.

Armed with the lottery ticket, winner Sehra came to the Punjab State Lottery office in Chandigarh with his wife and two sons to complete the paperwork today.

The family of four dressed in simple but immaculate clothes walked cheerfully into the office and turned emotional as the paperwork started, with mediapersons surrounding them.

An emotional Sehra, with tears in his eyes, choked to say, “I sell potatoes, onions and tomatoes on the streets to feed and educate my children. I used to dream of making them IAS officers. I had faith that God will listen to my prayers someday. I used to park my cart on the road, people taunted me, police often misbehaved and sometimes even abused. I had to bear all this to bring up my children. Lord Hanuman has given me the strength to do all I want to do for my sons. It’s surreal!”

The 35-year-old said he had come from Kotputli with his friend Mukesh to visit his uncle in Moga. On the way, they had stopped in Bathinda for tea when they saw the lottery ticket shop. “You are a religious person and pray a lot daily with faith in God and destiny, so you must buy it,” Sehra recounted his conversation with Mukesh that day. On his friend’s insistence, he bought two tickets.

“Mujhe ye to pata tha ki meri kismat paltegi, par ye nahi pata tha ki aise paltegi (I knew my luck would change, but didn’t expect it will happen this way),” he said. On November 1, Mukesh rang Sehra to say he had hit the jackpot and won Rs 11 crore. He said he had been buying lottery tickets since two-three years, with a firm belief that he would hit the jackpot one day.