Kerala: 22-year-old falls prey to Blue Whale suicide challenge

Kannur: Another suspected case of suicide due to the 'Blue Whale Challenge' game has emerged in Kerala even as state police is yet to confirm if the recent suicides are linked to the cyber game.

The family of a 22-year-old man, who had committed suicide by hanging himself inside his home in July, on Wednesday said they suspected that it was a case of 'Blue Whale Challenge' addiction.

The mother of one Sawant, an Industrial Training Institute student, said he had slashed his arms with a blade and the family had then thought that it was due to some depression.

He was taken for counselling many times, but his behaviour continued to be abnormal, his mother told television channels.

Sawant was addicted to some computer games for the past few months and he used to always play some games on his mobile and laptop and used to sleep in the morning after playing computer games the whole night, she said.

Once he left home saying he was going to college and was found by a relative sitting on the edge of the Thalassery beach bridge.

Thalassery police had told relatives that he must have taken the extreme step due to failure in a relationship.

He used to watch horror films on his laptop and had slashed his wrists with a blade. He had also carved out 'SA' on his chest using a compass.

IGP Manoj Abraham said police was unaware if anyone had downloaded the game in Kerala.

However, enquiries were on, he said.

There has been no confirmation yet if there have been any 'Blue Whale Challenge' deaths from the state.

On Tuesday, the family of a 16-year-old boy in the state capital, who had committed suicide by hanging himself, had suspected that he had taken the step as part of the 'Blue Whale Challenge' game.

The school student from Vilapilasala in Thiruvananthapuram had allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself at his house on July 26.

The boy's mother told a Malayalam TV channel on Wednesday that her son had downloaded the game in November 2016.

"He said in the last stage of the game, one should either commit suicide or murder someone. I got scared after hearing that and asked my son not to play the game," she said.

She said the boy had once hurt himself using a compass and jumped into a river though he did not know swimming. He was later rescued.

Before his suicide, the boy had deleted the game from his mobile phone, the woman added.

Police have recorded the family's statements and investigations have begun.

The Central government has directed Internet majors Google, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Microsoft and Yahoo to immediately remove links of the game.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had on August 12 urged the Centre to take immediate steps to ban the online Blue Whale game in the country "to save precious lives".