Online gaming company PlayGames 24x7 moves Madras High Court alleging harassment by TN police after suicide by gamer

The Madras High Court Friday issued notice to the Tamil Nadu police on a petition filed by an online gaming company claiming that the city police’ crime branch was harassing it in the name of inquiry into the suicide of a person..Justice G Chandrasekharan directed the Tamil Nadu government and the crime branch, CID, metro wing of the Chennai police to respond to the petition filed by the company PlayGames 24x7 by March 14.The petitioner-company told the Court that it had received a notice from the crime branch last year informing it that an inquiry under Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) was being conducted to probe the death of one Manikandan, who had died of suicide on January 2, 2022 allegedly after playing the online game. On February 24 this year, the crime branch sent another notice to the petitioner informing that it had been charged under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code for Manikandan’s death. The crime branch asked the company’s official to appear before it and also sought several documents and other information from them. However, despite having cooperated with crime branch’s probe throughout, the respondent probe agency has been constantly harassing it and its employees, PlayGames told the Court. It further said that the crime branch was demanding totally irrelevant information and on a very short notice. The crime branch was sending emails to the company and repeated reminder messages on WhatsApp to its employee and also asking for confidential information relating to its operations and also personal information about key managerial personnel, PlayGames told the Court..The petitioner further contended that charging it for murder under Section 302 of IPC and demanding irrelevant information amounts an abuse of power on part of the State agency and is an attempt to achieve indirectly what the State has failed to achieve directly, i.e. a total ban on online gaming.PlayGames also told the Court that while Manikandan had died on January 2, 2022, he had last logged on to the company’s “gaming circle” called ‘Rummy Circle,’ on April 6, 2017, almost five years before his death.Therefore, the company was not responsible for Manikandan’s suicide and the crime branch was conducting a fishing expedition under the guise of conducting an inquiry, it said in its petition.PlayGames, therefore, urged the Court to quash the February 24 notice and to direct the respondents not to harass the company and its employees.