Parbati Karki, a 39-year-old community health volunteer from Baseri in Gangajamuna Rural Municipality of Dhading, never imagined that a routine phone call would change her life.

Last week, she was officially awarded Rs10 million under Ncell’s ‘Sadhai On Crorepati’ scheme—marking a rare and unexpected turn of fortune after years of financial and personal hardship.

The Rs7.5 million prize money, handed over after taxes and transferred directly to her bank account, will be used to repay family debt, fund her son's education, start a business with her husband, and eventually settle in Kathmandu.

“I was delighted and excited when I heard I had won Rs10 million,” Karki said, absorbing the windfall's magnitude.

The lucky draw took place on July 18, but Karki, who was working in the fields transplanting paddy that day, missed the initial call from an Ncell representative. “I had left my phone at home. When I returned in the evening, I saw a missed call,” she said.

When she called back, she was told she was one of the winners of the crorepati scheme and was asked to visit the company’s head office in Kathmandu. “They didn’t say I had won the jackpot,” Karki recalled.

After the full extent of her win was confirmed, Karki contacted her husband, who has been working in Bahrain for the past two years. “He told me to be cautious and not trust anything blindly,” she said. “But once I confirmed everything at the Ncell office on Tuesday, I called him again, and we decided he would return home.”

Her husband is expected to return in 10 to 15 days. Together, they plan to invest in a new business. The couple previously ran a grocery shop in Dhungeadda, Kalanki, but it collapsed under the weight of unpaid customer credit, forcing her husband to seek employment abroad.

“His income in Bahrain barely covers our expenses, especially with the loans we’re repaying. We still have a debt of about Rs1 million,” said Karki. Their only son is currently studying hotel management in grade 12.

Karki’s life has been shaped by adversity.

In the 2015 earthquake, she lost her one-month-old baby when their house collapsed. The family lived in a temporary shelter for months before they could rebuild a modest home.

Even now, she continues to farm to support her household—planting rice, maize, and millet and growing seasonal vegetables for personal consumption. She studied up to grade nine and has been using Ncell services for the past nine years—mainly for voice calls with relatives and occasionally to connect with her husband on social media.

She learned about the crorepati scheme from a customer representative at Ncell who called and guided her through the registration process.

Ncell launched the 'Sadhai On Crorepati' scheme on June 15 as a 12-week promotional campaign. Ten customers received weekly cash prizes of Rs100,000, and one lucky winner received a grand prize of Rs10 million.

However, the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) abruptly halted the scheme on July 17, citing concerns over consumer protection and regulatory compliance.

Min Prasad Aryal, director at the NTA, told the Post that Ncell failed to obtain prior approval from the District Administration Office, as required under the Lottery Act of 1968.

“Such schemes encourage customers to recharge impulsively, which is unfair from a consumer rights perspective,” Aryal said. “That’s why we instructed Ncell to stop the scheme.”

In response, Ncell said the authority’s directive came without explanation. “We were asked to immediately stop the scheme without being given a valid reason,” said an Ncell official. The scheme was in its fifth week when the order came. “We still don’t know why it was halted,” the official added.

Despite the controversy surrounding the campaign, Karki's windfall offers long-awaited relief and a chance to rebuild.

“I still can’t believe it sometimes,” she said. “This could change our lives.”