Poor Clerk First to Win Million on India Game Show

NEW DELHI -- A poor government clerk from eastern India has become the first person ever to win $1 million on an Indian game show.

Sushil Kumar's staggering win on the Indian version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" echoes the plot of the 2008 Oscar-winning film "Slumdog Millionaire."

Kumar and his wife of five months wept Tuesday when the show's host handed them a check for 50 million rupees, just over $1 million.

The 26-year-old told viewers his family was so poor they couldn't afford a television set, forcing him to go to a neighbor's home to watch the quiz show.

Before he went on the program, Kumar earned $120 a month as a government office worker and supplemented his income by working as a private tutor.

Now that he's rich, he says he plans to buy a new home, pay off his parents' debts, give his brothers cash to start up small businesses and build a library in his village.