A coconut seller hailing from Tamil Nadu, who lost lakhs of rupees playing online rummy, reportedly became a thief to pay off his debt. The seller has been identified as Mohan by the Bengaluru police.

As reported by Bangalore Mirror, Mohan used to steal around 100-200 tender coconuts on a daily basis after he incurred a significant amount of debt due to his online rummy addiction.

Reports reveal that while Mohan himself is a coconut seller, he used to go around the city at night and steal coconuts. The following day, he would go around in his cab to sell the stolen coconuts in other parts of the city.

He is allegedly involved in many thefts that occurred throughout the city. A complaint was filed by a tender coconut merchant Rajanna in the Girinagar Police Station after his storage place was regularly seeing loss of coconuts overnight.

During the interrogation, Mohan revealed that the coconuts mostly came from Maddur and were sold to merchants in the morning. The police have now seized his motorcycle and car that is estimated to be worth Rs 8 lakh.

Online rummy and debts

Cases like these were frequent at some point of time in Tamil Nadu and in other parts of the country, too. Online rummy has been one of the most debated topics in Tamil Nadu in the last few years due to suicides allegedly associated with it. While the state government has tried to ban online gaming in the state a couple of times, the bans have not stood in the courts.

Most recently, the ban on online skill games was struck down by the Madras High Court on November 9.

Online rummy and poker are regarded as games of skill and are legal across most of the states, however it is important to set a limit on spending for these online games. The individual playing should also be aware of their risk appetite before playing the game.