Gujarat AAP MLA Umesh Makwana has addressed a letter to Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel asking him to immediately ban online gambling, teenpatti, and rummy applications in the state in light of the recent reported suicide of chartered accountancy (CA) student, Shubham Bagthariya from Rajkot.

Bagthariya recently sent a video to his father claiming that he would be taking his own life after losing money in online gambling. The 21-year-old student was preparing for CA exams and working at a private company. The police are currently searching for him. He has not been declared dead yet.

Makwana, in his letter, wrote that the youth of Gujarat are in great danger due to the proliferation of online gambling applications. The letter also mentions Bagthariya’s case.

The Botad constituency MLA further mentioned that such incidents are occurring across different districts of Gujarat and called for an immediate ban on these online gambling applications.

Online gambling addiction has become one of the serious issues across the country in recent times. Reports of people losing large amounts of money in online gambling and committing suicide are being reported frequently.

After a recent suicide case that occurred in Tamil Nadu due to online rummy, Pattali Makkal Katchi’s (PMK) president Anbumani Ramadoss asked the state government to provide mental health counselling for people suffering from depression induced by gambling addiction.

A similar step is also being taken in Rohtak where a drug-dependence centre is offering rehabilitation facility to people suffering from online gambling addiction. Currently, they are four patients admitted for treatment.