In a tragic turn of events, the lure of making quicks bucks, through online cricket betting, led a Karnataka man into staggering debts of crores, ultimately resulting in his wife’s untimely demise. Darshan Babu, an assistant engineer with the state minor irrigation department in Chitradurga’s Hosadurga, reportedly lost over Rs 1 crore in online betting, which invited constant harassment of family by creditors.
Tired of dealing with the alleged harassment by money lenders, his 24-year-old homemaker wife, Ranjitha, died by suicide on March 18.
According to the police, Ranjitha and Darshan Babu got married in the year 2020 and in the year 2021, the wife learnt about her husband’s betting addiction.
“As per the complaint from Ranjitha’s father Venkatesh, Ranjitha died by suicide because of the harassment from those people who lent money to her husband, Darshan. While Darshan was taking money from the people, he for surety was giving people an empty cheque,” said Chitradurga superintendent of police, Dharmendra Kumar Meena.
“People used to threaten the couple, come near the house and fight with them. All this increased the stress level for Ranjitha and that led her to end her life. A case, however, was filed as per her father’s complaint,” he added.
Police said Ranjitha had left the suicide note behind, in which she explained the kind of harassment the moneylenders put the couple through.
Following the complaint, police filed a case against 13 suspects under IPC 306, a case of abetment to suicide. So far, police have arrested three accused, identified as Shivu, Girish, and Venkatesha.
“During our investigation process, we found that Darshan Balu took 84 Lakh Rupees from moneylenders. This huge amount was taken between 2021-2023 during the IPL. We filed a case against 13 people and have arrested three members”, said Meena.
In November 2023, the Bengaluru Police Cyber Crime Unit busted an interstate cricket betting racket in which the accused opened several mule accounts to carry out cyber frauds.
The police arrested six people in connection with the case, of which five were from Kerala and one from Karnataka. Police found that 126 bank accounts were opened by the accused in the name of innocent people.
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