Caught in the Web of Online Gambling: Katigorah Youth Ends Life Over ₹12 Lakh Debt

While UPI, a part of India Stack’s “digital infrastructure for all,” has made life easier for businesses and day-to-day transactions, one dark side is the proliferation of gambling apps. Easy access to these apps and payments via digital modes has made youths vulnerable to such platforms. Multiple websites promoting these apps, along with pop-up ads that disrupt algorithms, have lured many into the trap of online gambling addiction.

In one such sombre case, a Cachar youth tragically ended his life on January 5, after incurring crushing debt from these games.

What starts as an easy game, with the app offering upfront money, often spirals into addiction. The dark patterns of these unregulated apps lead to significant losses, as seen in the case of a Katigorah resident who incurred over ₹12 lakh in debts.

Bishwajit Malakar, a youth from Sidheswar village in Katigorah, Cachar, became addicted to online gambling and, tragically, took his own life. He had lost ₹12 lakh over the past year, leaving him deeply distressed. Previously, he had attempted suicide twice but was saved by his family.

The news of Bishwajit’s suicide has cast a shadow of grief across the region. His father, Badal Malakar, is a prominent businessman in Katigorah’s Chowringhee Bazaar. Bishwajit had borrowed money from multiple sources to gamble on an app called “Aviator,” but his growing debts pushed him into despair.

On Sunday, he locked himself in a room while evading his family members’ attention and hung himself from the ceiling. When the family, aware of his mental state, searched for him, they found the room locked. Breaking it open, they discovered his lifeless body hanging. Although the noose was cut down in the hope that he might still be alive, doctors at Silchar Medical College and Hospital declared him “brought dead” later that night.

The Katigorah Police have since sent his body for a post-mortem examination.