Chennai,  After a policeman attached to the Coimbatore armed city force committed suicide, his friends and relatives blamed the online rummy game to which he was addicted to being the reason.

Kalimuthu, 29, had borrowed more than Rs 20 lakh from his known persons, including relatives and friends, and had been playing online rummy games in which he incurred in heavy losses and debts. The policeman had promised to repay his lenders the money he owed as early as possible but he could not meet the date line.

Officials told IANS that 32 government departments opened their stalls to show their products and schemes in an exhibition at Gandhipuram, Coimbatore. The police stall at the exhibition was displaying its weapons in the stall and Kalimuthu was on duty. On Friday, afternoon he was alone on duty and he took an SLR gun from the display and shot himself in the abdomen.

A senior police officer attached with the Coimbatore city police told IANS that the bullet went through the abdomen and came out through his back. His colleagues who rushed to the spot after hearing the gunshot saw Kalimuthu lying in a pool of blood and he was rushed to a private hospital in Coimbatore where doctors carried out surgery.

The bullet had damaged his kidney and he did not respond to medicines and succumbed to his injuries early this morning. Kalimuthu, who hailed from Virudhunagar district in Tamil Nadu, is survived by his wife Salai Thillanaikai and two children aged 4 and 3 years.

It may be noted that there have been calls from political parties and social organisations for the banning of online rummy that has led to the death of several people. The PMK has been at the forefront of the struggle and the state president of the party, Dr Anbumani Ramadoss has called upon a string of agitations if the government takes immediate steps to ban the online rummy game that was taking the lives of several people.