THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A team of police officials visited the house of a teen near Thiruvananthapuram, after his family alleged that the boy killed himself because of the trending online game Blue Whale. The 16- year- old Manoj C Manu's mother said he hung himself at their home. He had mentioned playing the game in November, after which he began hurting himself, including cutting himself with a piece of broken glass and carving initials.
She suggested that in retrospect, there were signs that he was taking up the life-risking challenges, the game dares its users to perform. “He said in the last stage of the game, one should either commit suicide or murder someone. I got scared after hearing it and asked my son not to play the game,” she said. She recalled him jumping into a river even though he did not know how to swim, and had to be rescued. Manu referred to death for the first time in April, asking her, “What if I die? Will you be upset?” In fact, just two weeks before he died, he watched a rash of horror movies.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan wrote a letter to the Centre demanding a ban on the viral online game that originated in Russia. Blue Whale gives its players a list of formidable tasks to be completed in 50 days. The final task is to commit suicide. Senior police officer Manoj Abraham said, “There is no confirmatory evidence that the boy played this game at all or the death is related to the Blue Whale App. But the boy's mother has made these allegations and we are looking into it.”
Just last month, another Kerala family also blamed the Blue Whale for the death of their 22 year old son. They claimed he was addicted to the game. Identified as Sawant, the victim slashed his arms with a blade, carved initials in his chest, and stayed up through the night playing computer games.
Several teen deaths in different countries including China and Brazil have been linked to the game. Just last week, two teen boys in Indore and Solapur were stopped from killing themselves after having completed most of the other challenges listed. The Centre has asked major online players including Google, Facebook, Whatsapp to ensure they remove links that lead to or promote the game.
