Mohijul Rahima Sheikh, an unemployed 22-year-old father from West Bengal, bought ticket hours after arriving in Keralan city of Kozhikode after taking pity on a disabled lottery vendor

History is full of tales of penniless migrants who travelled to the big city to seek their fortune.

But few have enjoyed such immediate success as Mohijul Rahima Sheikh, an unemployed Bengali migrant who crossedIndia in search of a menial job to help feed his young family, only to win £100,000 in the state lottery three days later.

The 22-year-old arrived in Kerala last Friday to start a low-paid construction job. That evening, taking pity on a disabled lottery vendor, he decided to buy a 50 rupees (50 pence) “Karunya’’ lottery ticket.

On Monday, when the draw results were announced in local newspapers, Mr Sheikh went through every copy he could find to check and double-check that he had won.

Eventually satisfied that he had, but with banks closed for a public holiday preventing him from cashing in his ticket, Mr Sheikh began to fear other migrant workers might target him for his winnings.