Blue Whale challenge: Teen commits suicide to win online game

News Network
August 1, 2017

Mumbai, Aug 1: The Mumbai police are studying an online suicide game, the Blue Whale challenge, for a possible link to the death of a 14-year-old boy, who allegedly committed suicide by jumping off the terrace of his five-floor building at Andheri (East) on Saturday.

The case has sparked fears the dangerous self-harm game could have made its way India through social media.

The game, believed to have originated in Russia, reportedly goads youngsters to do self-harm tasks for 50 days before they are encouraged to “win” the game by killing themselves.

In Saturday’s case, a witness in the opposite building said he called out to the boy when he saw him walking along the edge of the terrace.

According to his statement to the police, he saw the boy try to make at least two attempts to jump. He called him, but the boy did not respond. The witness rushed out to get help, but by the time he reached down, the boy had jumped off the building.

The police is studying how the game is played. According to a source, the police have not found anything in his mobile and his parents are unaware if any such thing was related to the alleged suicide. However, there were some chats on WhatsApp groups by friends of the victim about the death being linked to the online suicide challenge.

The police said it will be checking his laptop and social media accounts.

The game is believed to have been the brainchild of an arrested Russian national who admitted to have psychologically manipulated to convince teen girls to kill themselves, and has since then claimed more than 100 lives in Russia and UK.

While a team from Meghwadi police is investigating all possible angles to figure out the reason behind the suicide, psychologists say one should not jump into conclusions on what led to the child taking the drastic step.

Pandurang Patil, senior police inspector of Meghwadi police station, said, “A team led by an inspector spoke to the victim’s friends.” One of the victim’s friends posted on Facebook that the suicide was linked to the Blue Whale challenge. Any conclusion will be drawn only after the investigation is over. Also, the police are yet to recover the child’s laptop, which will bring further clarity.

Dr Harish Shetty, a known psychiatrist, said, “It is important to conduct a psychological autopsy before jumping to any conclusion. Investigating agencies should figure out the conduct of the boy for the past two to three months. Was he aloof? Did he fare well in his exams? Was he staying away from friends, are the questions that need to be answered.”

 

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News Network
May 28,2020

Hyderabad, MAY 28: A three-year-old boy who accidentally fell into a newly drilled open borewell in Telangana's Medak district was found dead in the early hours of Thursday, police said.

The kid's body was retrieved at around 4 am after a nearly 10 hours' long rescue operation involving different agencies, they said.

"He died a while before we evacuated him, most likely due to the mud that covered him from the top sealing off necessary oxygen supply, " Medak District Superintendent of Police Chandana Deepti told PTI.

The boy had accidentally slipped into the 120- feet borewell at around 5 pm on Wednesday in an agricultural field located in Papannapet mandal of the district when he was walking with his grandfather and father, police earlier said.

As part of rescue efforts, a parallel trench was dug along the borewell hole with the help of earth excavating machines and oxygen was supplied into it, but the efforts went in vain as the boy's body was found stuck at a depth of around 25 feet, the police said.

Apart from the police, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel were also involved in the rescue operation.

The borewell into which the child fell was one among the three dug by the family since Tuesday night to try and find water for their fields. But none of them yielded any water, police had said.

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News Network
June 6,2020

Kota (Rajasthan), Jun 6: A 14-year-old boy allegedly hanged himself to death on early Saturday morning shortly after he stopped playing PUBG throughout the night and went to sleep, said police. 

Railway Colony police station’s in-charge Hansraj Meena said the boy, a class 9 student and son of an Army man, was found hanging from the grill of the ventilator in his bedroom on early Saturday morning. 

Meena said according to the boy’s family members, the boy had downloaded the gaming programme on his mother’s mobile phone only three days back but had been playing the game virtually continuously for the last three days. 

He kept on playing the game till 3 am in a room in which his brother was studying, said Meena, adding the boy went to adjoining to sleep after that. His body was found hanging from the ventilator’s grill in the morning, he said, adding the boy was rushed to MBS Hospital, where he was declared “brought dead”. 

No suicide note was recovered in the case, the SHO said. The boy lived in Gandhi Colony in the city along with his mother and brother, while his father, a Tamil Nadu native and Army man, is currently posted in Arunachal Pradesh. The boy’s body has been kept in hospital’s morgue for the postmortem, the SHO said.

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Agencies
January 16,2020

Cuttack, Jan 16: At least 15 passengers were injured as five coaches of the Mumbai-Bhubaneswar Lokmanya Tilak Express derailed and three more were displaced after colliding with a goods train amid heavy fog near Cuttack in Odisha on Thursday, railway officials said.

Railway officials had earlier said that 25 passengers were injured in the incident but later officers who reached the site reported that four passengers were found to have suffered major injuries and 11 had received minor injuries.

Passengers with major injuries have been sent to Cuttack Medical College. All passengers are stated to be out of danger.

Officials said the accident happened when the passenger train hit the guard van of a good train around 7 am between Salagaon and Nergundi stations.

The officials said there was heavy fog at the site but it was not clear what led to the accident. The speedometer of both the trains have been seized for inquiry, East Coast Railway Spokesperson J P Mishra said.

Buses have been arranged for all remaining passengers to move towards their destination.

Cuttack is around 10-12 km away and Bhubaneswar(Terminating station) is 35 km.

The accident disrupted train services in the area.

Five trains have been affected due to the accident where restoration work in underway. These include the Bhubaneswar-Mumbai LTT SF Express, the Puri-Rourkela Express, Dhanbad-Bhubaneshwar Rajyarani Express which have all been diverted via Naraj.

"East Coast Railway acknowledges with deep gratitude help of nearby locals and villagers who have displayed great humanitarian values and come to the rescue of injured passengers," Mishra said.

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