Kanpur: A man in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh lost his wife he had put at stake in a betting game.
The matter came to light after the woman approached police with the help of local activists when her husband’s fellow gamblers began harassing her.
The police told reporters that the unidentified man recently lost his wife he had put as stake during a cricket game under the Indian Premier League. The other gamblers started making rounds of their house and calling her on phone. Sensing trouble, she lodged a complaint against her husband on May 27.
“The wife said the husband would beat her up every now and then and once he even urged her to bring 700,000 rupees from her parents,” said Ajai Prakash Srivastava, officer in charge of the police station in Govindnagar, a village in Kanpur district.
The officer termed the case as “really shocking” and added they were probing the allegation to understand “the exact circumstances behind the crime,” The Times of India reported on May 28.
The two were married five years ago. However, things turned difficult from day one, said the woman, a boutique owner. On the first day, the husband asked the woman to hand over to him her jewellery and other valuables.
“Later, she got to know about his vices of drinking and gambling. Over the years, he either sold or lost in gambling all the valuables of their household. He was also planning to sell the house when this IPL gambling fiasco happened,” said another police officer, who is part of the probe team.