A 35-year-old man, Abhimanyu Gupta, has been arrested in Maharashtra’s Thane district for the murder of a 74-year-old woman, Sevamary Augustin Nadar. The crime, committed on August 14, was motivated by Gupta’s addiction to online gambling, which led him to steal gold ornaments from Nadar and subsequently set her house on fire to eliminate evidence.
According to police reports, Gupta attacked Nadar while she was alone, slitting her throat before fleeing with her gold jewelry. To cover his tracks, he set the house ablaze. The Bhiwandi taluka police traced Gupta to a lodge in Thane and arrested him on August 17. He has been charged with murder and arson.
Gupta’s addiction to online gambling, which cost him over ₹2 lakh, drove him to commit the robbery. He had previously worked at a dairy run by Nadar’s son, which provided him with knowledge of the family’s valuables.
Gupta has been remanded to police custody until August 28. His case highlights a troubling pattern of crimes linked to gambling addiction, similar to a case in Uttar Pradesh where a man murdered his mother to claim her life insurance payout in order to settle his debts.
In a related incident earlier this year, Himanshu, an online gaming addict, killed his mother to claim her ₹50 lakh life insurance payout. His severe gambling debt, amounting to nearly ₹4 lakh, drove him to this drastic measure, revealing the destructive potential of gambling addiction.
The recent case in Thane underscores the dangerous consequences of gambling addiction and its impact on individuals and their communities.
