Chennai:

A 26-year-old youth, who lost his mother’s cancer treatment fund on online rummy game, tragically ended his life.

Police identified the youth as Akash, a catering delivery worker who started playing online rummy during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequently became addicted to it.

He used to live with his mother, a cancer patient, and his brother after the death of their father a few years ago.

Recently, Akash’s mother found that Rs 30,000, which she had saved for her cancer treatment, was missing.

Upon questioning, Akash admitted that he had used the money to play online games.

After being scolded by his mother and brother, Akash went missing from their home on Friday evening, taking his mobile phone with him.

The family searched for him at the homes of close friends but was unable to locate him.

On Saturday morning, his body was found on the terrace of their residence.

The Kottupuram Police in Chennai have registered a case and begun an investigation.

Over the past four years, 48 people have committed suicide in Tamil Nadu due to addiction to online betting apps and online loan frauds.

The Tamil Nadu Online Gaming Authority (TNOGA) had earlier announced its intention to take strict action against those promoting online gambling and betting apps in the state.

Citizens are encouraged to report online gambling activities or offer suggestions on regulating online games through www.tnonlinegamingauthority.com or via email at tnoga@tn.gov.in.

The TNOGA, 2022, prohibits online gambling, betting, and games of chance.

Violators face imprisonment of up to three months, a fine of up to Rs 5,000, or both. Financial institutions and payment gateways are also prohibited from facilitating transactions related to online gambling.

Additionally, the TNOGA Act bans advertisements promoting online gambling or games of chance in any form of media within Tamil Nadu.

Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) president and former Union Minister, Anbumani Ramadoss, have called on the government to take stringent measures against online games like rummy, which are reportedly driving many youths to despair and suicide.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Thane:

An 85-year-old man died after he jumped from a flat in a high-rise in Maharashtra’s Thane district, an official said on Saturday.

Shyamal Kumar Nilambar Fani, who had retired from the Navy, had been suffering from a health problem for a long time, the police official said.

The octogenarian jumped from the bathroom window of his son-in-law’s flat on the 21st floor of a housing complex at Nilje village on Friday. He was taken to a hospital where doctors declared him dead, the official said.

The Manpada police in Dombivali have registered a case of accidental death, he added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The parents of 34-year-old Atul Subhash, who died by suicide alleging extortion and harassment by his estranged wife and her family, have said he was under severe stress and had to travel at least 40 times between Bengaluru and Uttar Pradesh’s Jaunpur for court dates.

“They tortured my son, they tortured us too. But my son took everything upon himself. He endured everything, he did not let us suffer. He kept burning inside,” said Atul’s mother, crushed by her son’s death. His father said Atul had told them the family court did not follow the law. “He said the judge and others did not follow the law, did not even follow the guidelines of high courts and the Supreme Court. He must have travelled between Bengaluru and Jaunpur at least 40 times. So many charges, one case would finish and she (the wife) would slap another. He was frustrated, but he did not show it to us,” he said.

Atul Subhash was found dead at his Bengaluru home on Monday morning. A ‘justice is due’ placard and a 24-page suicide note was found in his room. He has accused his estranged wife Nikita Singhania, mother-in-law Nisha Singhania, brother-in-law Anurag Singhania and his wife’s uncle Sushil Singhania of instigating him to die by suicide. Based on his brother Bikas Kumar’s complaint, a case of abetment to suicide has been registered against the four.

In an 81-minute video, Atul Subhash said he married in 2019 after finding Nikita on a matchmaking website. The couple had a son the next year. He has alleged that his wife’s family would repeatedly demand money running into several lakhs. When he refused to give more money, his wife left the Bengaluru home with their son in 2021.

The next year, Atul wrote in the note, she filed a case against him and his family under multiple sections, including murder and unnatural sex. She alleged that he demanded dowry of Rs 10 lakh and this put pressure on her father and he died of a heart attack. “This is some poor bollywood plot. She has already confessed that her father was suffering from long term illness in her cross examination. Her father was getting treated from AIIMS for the last 10 years for heart disease, diabetes etc. Doctors gave him few months and hence we got married quickly,” he has said. This case, he said, was subsequently withdrawn.

Atul has said that his wife and her family first demanded Rs 1 crore to settle the case, but later hiked this to Rs 3 crore. He has detailed a court exchange in which he said that when he told the judge that men are dying by suicide due to false cases, his wife replied, “Then why don’t you?” At this, he said, the judge laughed and asked her to leave the room. Atul has also alleged that the judge said he “must think about his family” and demanded Rs 5 lakh to “settle the case”.

Atul’s brother Bikas Kumar told news agency ANI, “Around eight months after my brother’s wife separated from him, she filed a divorce case and framed many charges against my brother and our entire family under different acts and sections. Every law in India is for women, and not for men – my brother fought for this but he left us.”

“My brother did everything for her. Whatever has happened was unfortunate. If he had ever discussed it with me or our father, we would have helped him out of this situation… I want to request the government of India and the President that justice must be done to my brother if he is right. Otherwise, show me the proof that he is wrong. There should be a proper investigation against the judge named in my brother’s suicide note,” he said.

Atul Santosh friend Jackson told ANI that he was under tremendous stress. “But in this particular video and the notes that he has made, it doesn’t seem that he was depressed. It seems that he did it out of a sense of harassment that he was facing from the system. So it was more like his way of telling the system that it is not helping men and there is a lot of bias.”

Raging against the law dealing with such cases, Atul wrote in his suicide note, “The more I work hard and become better at my work, the more I and my family will be harassed and extorted and the whole legal system will encourage and help my harassers… Now, with me gone, there won’t be any money and there won’t be any reason to harass my old parents and my brother. I may have destroyed my body but it has saved everything I believe in.”

Jackson said the couple’s relationship went downhill during the Covid pandemic. “During COVID, he was looking after his wife and son. His wife was also infected with COVID and she had a lot of issues. So he went ahead to procure medicines for her and she wasn’t taking them on time. This created some friction that escalated into multiple issues and then she left him along with the baby and he could not see his son,” he said.Bengaluru police have said that a police team would travel to Jaunpur to question Nikita and her family members. Earlier, when NDTV tried to reach them, the Singhania family refused to speak about the incident and said their lawyer would respond.

New Delhi:

A 34-year-old man died by suicide at his home in Bengaluru, shortly after recording a video accusing his estranged wife and her family of harassment. Bengaluru police have also found a suicide note and registered a case of abetment of suicide following a complaint.

Atul Subhash, originally from Bihar, was found dead at his home in Manjunath Layout in Bengaluru. Neighbours found him hanging after breaking into the flat. A placard that read, “justice is due” was found in his room. His brother Bikas Kumar told police that Atul’s estranged wife had filed false cases against him and his parents and that he was mentally upset.

Atul has made serious allegations against his wife, her family members and a judge in Uttar Pradesh’s Jaunpur in a video. He has also left behind a letter addressed to the President, in which he criticised the criminal justice system and flagged a trend of false cases. In another note, he has said he pleads not guilty to all the charges brought against him by his wife. These include charges under the Dowry Prohibition Act and relevant sections such as causing hurt or cruelty against a woman under the Indian Penal Code. “I humbly request the court to stop harassing my parents and brother in these false cases,” he said.

In the video he recorded before dying by suicide and in the note he left behind, Atul Subhash said he married in 2019 after a match on a matrimonial website. The couple had a son the next year. He has alleged that his wife’s family would repeatedly demand money running into several lakhs. When he refused to give more money, his wife left the Bengaluru home with their son in 2021.

The next year, Atul wrote in the note, she filed a case against him and his family under multiple sections, including murder and unnatural sex. She alleged that he demanded dowry of Rs 10 lakh and this put pressure on her father and he died of a heart attack. “This is some poor bollywood plot. She has already confessed that her father was suffering from long term illness in her cross examination. Her father was getting treated from AIIMS for the last 10 years for heart disease, diabetes etc. Doctors gave him few months and hence we got married quickly,” he has said. This case, he said, was subsequently withdrawn.

Atul has said that his wife and her family first demanded Rs 1 crore to settle the case, but later hiked this to Rs 3 crore. He has detailed a court exchange in which he said that when he told the judge that men are dying by suicide due to false cases, his wife replied, “Then why don’t you?” At this, he said, the judge laughed and asked her to leave the room. Atul has also alleged that the judge said he “must think about his family” and demanded Rs 5 lakh to “settle the case”.

Atul narrated another exchange with his mother-in-law in which she allegedly asked why he had not died by suicide yet. When Atul replied that how would they get money if he died, she allegedly said, “Your father will pay. Your parents will die after you, and your wife will get the money.”

Atul also said his wife and her family didn’t let him meet his son after his wife left with him. Raging against the law dealing with such cases, he wrote in his suicide note, “The more I work hard and become better at my work, the more I and my family will be harassed and extorted and the whole legal system will encourage and help my harassers… Now, with me gone, there won’t be any money and there won’t be any reason to harass my old parents and my brother. I may have destroyed my body but it has saved everything I believe in.”

Atul Subhash also shared a link of his video on X and tagged its CEO Elon Musk and US President Elect Donald Trump. “I will be dead when you will read this. A legal genocide of men happening in India currently. A dead man is requesting Elon Musk and Donald Trump to save millions of life from woke Ideologies, Abortion, DEI and restore freedom of speech in India,” he said in a post.

Indore:

A hotelier allegedly shot himself dead in Indore in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday after leaving a purported suicide note in which he claimed he had decided long time ago to live only till the age of 30, a police official said.

The contents of the seven-page suicide note indicate the 30-year-old bachelor may have been facing issues of mental health, the official said.

“The blood-soaked body of the man was found in his house in Hira Nagar locality. The pistol which he obtained in 2016 for self-protection was found lying nearby. In the note, he said he was ending his life and no one should be held responsible,” Assistant Commissioner of Police Dhaysheel Yewale told PTI.

“In the note, he has written he had decided some eight-nine years ago that he would only live till 30. He has also written that he had no troubles in life,” the ACP informed.

The content of the note gives an indication that he may have been struggling with mental health issues but all angles are being investigated in connection with the death, Mr Yewale said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Jaipur:

A 30-year-old man attempted to commit suicide after allegedly killing his wife and son over a financial debt Jaipur on Sunday, police said.

The incident took place in Pratap Nagar area in Jaipur when Manoj Sharma, 30, mixed some poisonous substance in ‘halwa’ and served it to his family, Station House Officer (SHO) Zaheer Abbas.

Sharma’s wife Sakshi, 28, and 5-month-old son Atharv died. While Sharma and his daughter Niya are undergoing treatment at a hospital, the SHO said.

Sharma lived with his family at a rented house in Pratap Nagar, police said, adding that he had taken a huge debt and was grappling with family issues as well.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)