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Addicted to online rummy : Former driver, accomplice rob woman, held

- August 6, 2022

Chennai, Aug 6 (BPNS)

A 36-year-old man, who had worked as a driver for a 68-year-old woman who was living alone in Chennai, broke into her house along with his friend and robbed her of jewels and other valuables at knifepoint. The woman registered a complaint with the Velachery police station that she was robbed by two masked men. The incident happened on July 30th.

The woman Indumathi (68) of Sheshadripuram street in Velachery was living alone and police conducted a detailed inspection of those who had associated with her as also the CCTV visuals in the neighborhood.

Police team could find that the two masked men had entered her home but they could not identify the duo. However on a detailed investigation of CCTV visuals throughout the route, police could gather the information that the men were not wearing masks at a distance and when the visuals were shown to the elderly woman, she immediately identified her former driver, Ismail( 36).

The Velachery police team reached his residence but he had already left the place and after a prolonged investigation could nab him from a hideout on the outskirts of Chennai. Ismael led the police to his accomplice, Abdul Salam (35) whom he had befriended from a liquor shop in the city.

Ismael on interrogation told the police that he was addicted to online rummy and that he had robbed the woman to fund his online rummy games as well as to settle the old debts that he incurred while playing the game.

It is to be noted that even after the Tamil Nadu government had constituted a commission headed by retired Justice Chandru to study the online game menace, no action has come up. Several political parties including the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) and the BJP had taken up the issue of banning online rummy games but the government has yet to take an action. Many people have lost their lives by playing online rummy games and many families were broken due to the addiction to this game.

PMK state president Anbumani Ramadoss in a statement on Saturday called for the immediate banning of online rummy games and to prevent more suicides.