Hyderabad: Telangana has reported seven deaths tied to heavy financial losses from banned online betting in a month since chief minister A Revanth Reddy announced the formation of an SIT to combat digital gambling.
Police said six of the deceased died by suicide, while one was allegedly murdered by a man, also a betting addict, who gave him Rs 3 lakh. All were under the age of 26.
The most recent case involved K Pavan, an MTech student from Jawaharlal Nehru Technical University in Hyderabad, who died by suicide on April 17. Investigators say he lost over Rs 2.65 lakh in recent months.
Pavan’s brother-in-law B Srikanth said the student began betting after the start of the IPL season. “When I checked his phone there was one Slice app. Apart from that, he used Chrome and invested money in Lucky Kismat and JDB Gaming,” Srikanth said.
Pavan’s father K Pedda Narsimhulu, a farmer, said he was unaware of the extent of his son’s gambling. “During Ugadi, he told me about suffering losses in betting. Without a word, I gave him Rs 1 lakh to tide over the crisis. But it looks like he was addicted to it by then and continued to invest money despite the losses. Maybe he was under pressure and, therefore, did not tell me about being in a financial soup. If he did confide in me, I would have arranged whatever funds he needed to pull him out of the rut,” he said.
Another case involved 25-year-old Somesh, who ended his life after failing to recover his investment, including Rs 2 lakh set aside for his sister’s wedding. On April 1, 22-year-old K Akash from Nizamabad died by suicide after losing Rs 5 lakh across two platforms. His wife had given birth just six months earlier.
Other deaths in recent weeks were reported in Uppal, Godavarikhani (II) Town, and Secunderabad.
Most of those who died had taken loans from friends or lending apps to continue betting, often pledging personal assets such as motorcycles and phones, according to police. The collective losses among the seven are estimated at more than Rs 20 lakh.
The state has banned online betting, but people are accessing these platforms using VPNs to bypass geo-fencing restrictions. “We recently held a meeting with 133 Indian betting companies that are registered and regulated. While these companies have geo-fenced their platforms to block access from Telangana, many are using VPNs to bet,” said an SIT officer. “There are also several unregulated Chinese players online who are allowing for such activity.”
The SIT and local police are working to identify and block content promoting betting apps. Officials said 70 online betting-related cases are currently under investigation, with four high-profile cases involving celebrities transferred to SIT by the DGP. The remaining are being monitored by local police units, with SIT providing oversight.
“We have also created a standard operating procedure (SOP) about who to approach for such cases,” the officer said.
Families of those who died have urged authorities to take immediate action against the betting platforms. “We really hope that the team will act against these apps so that others do not fall prey to them,” Srikanth said.