Student rescued in Nellai

 Tirunelveli: A polytechnic student from Tirunelveli district was ‘rescued’ from going through with the ‘Blue whale challenge’, a disastrous video game that could suck youth into a black hole 

Police said 19-year-old Muslim boy, a native of Pathamadai village near Tirunelveli studying second year at a private polytechnic college at Valliyoor, was saved at the nick of time after his parents noticed a strange behavioural change in him and shared it with their relative. 

According to the boy’s parents, who did not want any of their identity to be disclosed, they took their son to a private psychiatric clinic (Sneha Mind Care Centre) in Tirunelveli, where psychiatrist, Dr C Panneerselvam checked the boy and confirmed the boy’s involvement in the “killer game”.

The boy had burn marks too and is believed to have attempted to draw the ‘Blue Whale’ on his hand using needle-point paper pin, according to the psychiatrist, who counselled him. The boy, however, was said to be at the initial stages of the ‘suicide game’.

To keep his identity secret, the boy was shifted to another privatehospital (Peace Health Centre) nearby.

The Tirunelveli city police who have not registered the case formally, have, however, started informal inquiries with the boy’s friends at the private polytechnic college at Valliyoor, where the ‘Blue Whale’ challenge game is suspected to have intruded among the students.