Hyderabad, April 24: A 30-year-old hotel worker in Andhra Pradesh has committed suicide after apparently losing more than Rs 50,000 in bets on IPL matches this season.
The suicide count relating to the tournament rose to two in the state when a Hyderabad hospital nurse killed herself after losing a battle for the TV remote to her younger brother who wanted to watch an IPL game.
For hotel worker Bhoomaiah, resident of Borgam village in Nizamabad district, Kings XI Punjab's defeat on Friday night to the Sunrisers Hyderabad seems to have been the last straw. He had bet Rs 5,500 on the Punjab franchise, the police said.
Bhoomaiah, who had lost several IPL bets this season according to wife Savitha, hanged himself from a tree in an orchard on Sunday.
The following day, nurse B. Madhu Priya, 24, fought with her brother who wouldn't let her watch her favourite TV serial because he wanted to watch an IPL game.
When their mother sided with her son, Madhu Priya locked herself in her room and injected herself with a lethal dose of insulin, inspector B. Pushpan Kumar said. She was found dead on Tuesday morning,
This is the first suicide in Hyderabad over control of the TV remote since December last year, when an 18-year-old girl hanged herself after a quarrel with her sister over which show to watch.
The state police have registered 345 cases against IPL bookies and punters in over 10 districts and arrested 27 people and seized television sets, computers and cellphones.
The police claim to be close to breaking an IPL betting network that has apparently clocked over Rs 1,200 crore already this year.
Sources said the odds being offered were sometimes as high as 1-20 and were likely to shoot up to 1-30 as the tournament gained momentum.
The police have taken out advertisements warning people against betting on IPL games and are cracking down on the racket, state police chief V. Dinesh Reddy said.