23-year-old woman commits suicide after husband incurs debt of more than Rs 1 crore through IPL betting

BENGALURU: In a shocking incident, a 23-year-old woman committed suicide after getting fed up with her husband's addiction to online cricket betting and the constant harassment by those who lend money to her husband. The deceased has been identified as Ranjitha, a native of Chitradurga in Karnataka. The incident took place on March 18. Ranjitha's husband Darshan Babu is an assistant engineer in the irrigation department at Hosadurga.

According to the police, Darshan Babu used to constantly bet on cricket matches. In 2021, he started betting on IPL matches as well. Even after losing bets, he used to borrow money from various individuals to place new bets. Darshan thus incurred a debt of more than one crore rupees through online cricket betting. Although he repaid Rs 1 crore, he still has to settle around Rs 84 lakh, his family members said.

Darshan and Ranjitha got married in 2020. The couple has a two-year-old son. According to Ranjitha's father Venkatesh, his daughter came to know about Darshan's involvement in cricket betting only a year after their marriage. He alleged that Darshan had to repay money to 13 people and that his daughter committed suicide after getting dejected because of the constant harassment she faced from the moneylenders.

"Initially Darshan was not willing to get into betting. However, some people lured him to betting by saying that it was an easy way to become rich. They promised to finance his betting activities against some blank cheques as security. This is how he got involved in betting," Venkatesh said.

Meanwhile, the police said that they found a suicide note written by Ranjitha explaining the harassment she faced from the moneylenders.