A 42-year-old man died by suicide at Manali on Thursday night after he lost money to the
tune of Rs 20 lakh playing online rummy, reported the Times of India. The deceased, according to reports was a resident of Arignar Anna Street in Manali and worked as a building painting contractor and was married with two sons aged eight and six.
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Police said that the man was addicted to online rummy for the past four years, but kept losing money in the game. Despite his family members’ warning about the addiction, he did not budge.
On Thursday night he locked himself up in the room and hung himself to death. Police reportedly got a book in which he wrote all the amount he lost to the game. He had used the money that his wife saved by pledging her jewellery.
The state government on 10 June announced setting up a four-member committee led by a former judge of the Madras high court Justice K Chandru to give recommendations in two weeks for the promulgation of an ordinance on online rummy.
The members of the committee include a technical expert from the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M), Sankararaman, Lakshmi Vijayakumar, psychiatrist and founder of Sneha, an NGO involved in the prevention of suicide, ADGP Vinit Dev Wankhede, and the law secretary of the state.
Tamil Nadu DGP C. Sylendra Babu recently warned the public that playing online rummy could lead to debt and suicide. The top cop in an awareness video said the number of people losing money and jewellery due to online gaming has increased in the last few months.
