An Indian American family is winning all praises from all over the US and become very famous for their honesty when they returned a winning $1 Million lottery to their customer who had tossed it away in a hurry.

Abhi Shah, an Indian American whose parents own a convenience store called Lucky Stop in Southwick, Massachusetts lamented his brief windfall on Monday, by saying laughingly “I was a millionaire for a night”.

An American woman, Lea Fiega, who was a regular customer at the Lucky Stop bought in March during her lunch break a $30 Massachusetts State Lottery “Diamond Millions” ticket, which she hurriedly scratched, frowned at the result, and handed it back to Abhi’s mother, Aruna Shah, as customers often do when they don’t win.

Abhi said his mother took the ticket and put it behind the counter. But Abhi came across the ticket several days later, and discovered matching 16s, and realised it was a winning lottery ticket to the tune of $1 million before taxes.

Abhi said he decided to buy a Tesla first and later see what he would do with the rest of the money. There was a family meeting next day morning, which included his grandparents in India.

Abhi said, his grandmother insisted that the family returns the winning lottery ticket to the right owner. He said, “My grandmother said, ‘Let’s not keep the ticket. It’s not right. Just give it back to them. If it’s in your luck, you’ll get it anyhow.’”

So Abhi tracked down a disbelieving Fiega and delivered the stunning news. “She freaked out like crazy, she cried,” Abhi said.

Lea Fiega

The CBS reports the other customers are not surprised that the Shahs did the right thing. A customer said, “They’re just purely good people. You can tell by just talking to them.”

The family is now flooded with congratulatory calls and interview requests from across the US. Abhi remarked that he wouldn’t have become as famous if he had kept the million dollar lottery with himself. He said, “If I had kept that million, I wouldn’t have been this famous. So I’m glad I gave it back”.

Abhi could have fulfilled a lot of his wishes with the $1Million, but he would not have done his Dharma. Abhi rightly said, “Got to make big guy happy upstairs.”

It was his family’s deep rooted Hindu values which made him do the right thing by following his Dharma which is worth more than all the money in this world, leave alone $1Million Dollars.

News and image source: CBS Southwick Store Owners Return Winning $1 Million Lottery Ticket To Customer Who Threw It Away – CBS Boston (cbslocal.com)

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