Indian-Origin Man Apprehended for Allegedly Stealing $1 Million Lottery Ticket in the US

New York:

An Indian-origin man has been charged with stealing a $1 million-winning lottery ticket from a buyer at the petrol station where he worked, according to local officials.

Meer Patel, 23, was arrested and charged with the theft on Monday. The buyer of the ticket was notified of his winning, according to the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office.

The alleged theft occurred at a petrol station in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where Patel was employed.

When the man who purchased the ticket asked Patel to check if it had won anything by scanning it, Patel allegedly claimed it had won a lower amount. He paid the customer that amount and then threw the ticket in the trash, according to Detective Steve Craig, quoted by the Cheatham County Exchange newspaper.

After the customer left the store, Patel retrieved the ticket from the trash, scratched off the hidden part to reveal the winning amount, and took it to the lottery office. The staff there became suspicious, the publication reported, quoting officials.

State lottery investigators reviewed the petrol station’s surveillance footage, which showed Patel picking the ticket out of the trash and “celebrating in the store after scratching off the front of the ticket and discovering it was a $1 million winner,” Investigator Vic Donoho told the publication.

The Sheriff’s Office was informed, and Patel was subsequently arrested.

Meanwhile, Craig and Donoho reviewed the store’s surveillance videos to identify the buyer and informed him of his luck.

“The feel-good side of this story is that the man never knew he was the winner until we contacted him,” Craig told the publication. “That is absolutely life-changing money.”