Kannur: Chalathan Janardhanan (65), who donated his entire earnings to the Chief Minister’s vaccine challenge, has passed away. He collapsed at his house in Avera near Kurua Bridge in Kannur. He was rushed to the hospital but died. He was a beedi worker. Out of his total earnings of Rs 2,00,850, he made headlines after donating Rs 2 lakh to the vaccine challenge.
After donating the money in the Kerala Bank’s Kannur main branch account for the vaccine challenge, he said that he did not want to reveal even his name and left. However, the bank employee informed the world about this through Facebook.
Janardhanan, who started beeditherup at the age of 13, only studied up to the eighth standard. Later Dinesh worked in Beedi Company for 36 years. His wife Punathumchal Rajini and Dinesh were beedi workers. Rajini passed away in June 2020. Both of them paid for the vaccine challenge from the benefits they received from the company. Until recently, Janardhanan used to distribute beedis for a private company.
When the Pinarayi Vijayan government came to power for the second time, Janardhanan was invited to take oath. However, Janardhanan, who had avoided traveling far after his wife’s death, had decided not to take the oath. He had reacted emotionally when the news about Anarhar stealing money from the Chief Minister’s relief fund came out.