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Now we know where the Dh10m Abu Dhabi raffle winner, is from Mangalore

He won Big Ticket raffle on Wednesday night, but the organisers have been unable to reach him

Divine blessing or sheer luck? Ravindra Boloor, who won Dh10 million in the Big Ticket Abu Dhabi raffle draw, is on pilgrimage to the Indian state of Maharashtra.

The Abu Dhabi-based Indian expat couldn’t be reached over the phone since Wednesday, and organisers of Big Ticket launched a video campaign to track him down this morning.

His friends in Abu Dhabi have claimed Boloor can’t be reached as he is offering prayers at a centre of pilgrimage in Maharashtra.

"He is from Mangalore. He is on vacation. He left from Abu Dhabi on March 26 and bought the ticket just before flying out. Now he is in Shirdi for a seven-day pilgrimage. This is why he isn’t reachable. He has to complete his pilgrimage and will take few days," his friend in Abu Dhabi said about visit to Shirdi.

And now all his friends are eagerly waiting his return.

"We don’t know what to say. Apart from him everyone in the world knows about Dh10 million jackpot winner," his friend said.

The turn of events started on Wednesday evening as Richard, who conducts the raffle at Abu Dhabi International Airport, named Boloor as the winner. Unfortunately, Boloor remained unreachable over the phone on both his local and Indian mobile numbers. And finally when Richard got through it was Boloor’s daughter at the other end, here’s the response he got: "Please call after a week. He is out of country. He is in Mumbai," his daughter, who is in India, said. When Richard persisted that it is an important call and will make Boloor very happy, she said: "Please call tomorrow. I will tell him about your call. He isn’t reachable now. He will return to Abu Dhabi on April 27."

On Thursday morning, Richard in a video message made a special appeal to track the winner down.

"There is a man walking around Mumbai right now and he doesn’t know that he is a multi-millionaire. We can’t get hold of him. And his daughter told me that he can speak to him after one week. I am making a special appeal to help me find him. You will help me change his life," Richard said.

According to friends, Boloor will now be back ahead of his scheduled return on April 27.