Hyderabad: PUBG-addict 16-year-old boy stages kidnap drama

Hyderabad: Addicted to PUBG, an online game, a 16-year-old Intermediate first year student staged a kidnap drama and attempted to extort Rs 3 lakh from his parents after they snatched his mobile phone.

The boy cannot be named as he is a minor. The resident of Sriramnagar Colony was studying in a private college and undergoing coaching for IIT. Addicted to PUBG, he was not concentrating on his education and his mother took away the phone.

On October 11, the boy told his parents that he would visit his friend but did not return. After searching for him, his parents lodged a complaint with the Raidurgam police and mentioned that he had taken away `2,000 from home.

Raidurgam inspector S. Ravinder said that during investigation it was found that the boy had boarded a bus to go to Mumbai the same day. He got down at Sholapur to use the toilet but the bus had left by the time he returned, police said. “The boy borrowed a mobile phone of a passerby and called his mother. He changed his voice and told her that her son was kidnapped and asked for a ransom of `3 lakh,” the inspector said.

On October 12, the boy’s mother received a message that a ticket was booked online from Hyderabad to Macherla in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, where the boy’s maternal grandparents live. On sharing the information with the police, a team rushed to the bus stand and rescued the boy, he said.

The boy had scored 9.8 GPA during his Class X examinations. After getting addicted to the game, he lost focus on his studies and was not performing well, he said.

The inspector said: “The boy was depressed and undergoing what looked like withdrawal symptom. He was traced to MGBS at around 5 pm on Saturday and was handed over to his parents and advised to provide counselling.”