Tamil Actor Shaam Arrested for Gambling by Chennai Police

The Chennai Police arrested 12 people including popular Tamil actor Shaam for alleged gambling activities at his house in Chennai. The actor resides near Nungambakkam area in the city.

Many other people, including other actors were also gambling at Shaam’s house till late night, during this lockdown period. packets of playing cards and tokens used for gambling were recovered from the actor’s house. There is no information on the arrest of any other actor. The F-3 Nungambakkam police has registered a case against Shaam and others involved.

"Actor Shaam has been arrested along with 11 others. We are investigating the modus operandi over the use of tokens," said a senior police officer after the arrest, as per a report in NDTV.

As per an unconfirmed report, the police was tipped off about the illegal activity at Shaam’s house by another popular actor who allegedly lost a big sum of money while gambling there. The name of the actor who reported the activity was not revealed. Later, all of those arrested were released on bail.

The quick arrest by the Chennai Police was carried out a day after a final-year undergraduate student skilled himself after losing money while playing an online game.

"The young man had lost Rs 20,000 he had taken from his workplace and appears to have become depressed and killed himself," a police officer said.

Recently, the Madras High Court suggested that the Tamil Nadu government should pass legislation to regulate online games like rummy, poker, and ludo. The court expressed concern that online gambling attracts unemployed youth and leads to addiction.

On the other hand, Dr S. Ramadoss and K Ramakrishna have both suggested that online rummy and other gaming sites and apps be banned by central and state governments.