Police identify victim’s 5 friends who play Blue Whale, alert parents
The Panchkula police has contacted the parents of the five students and asked them to take charge of their mobile phones and keep a close watch on them.
4 min read
The challenge is believed to have originated in Russia. Suicides triggered by the challenge have been reported from various parts of the country.
The Panchkula police said they had worked in collaboration with the school management of DAV Senior Secondary School in Sector 8, Chandigarh, and identified at least five friends of Karan Thakur playing the Blue Whale game. The Panchkula police has contacted the parents of the five students and asked them to take charge of their mobile phones and keep a close watch on them.
Investigations by the Panchkula police have found that while four are all boys from the same school, one is a girl who was among Karan’s non-school friends. “One parent has already handed over their son’s mobile phone to us after we informed them that their son was playing the game. The boy appears to have deleted it on Saturday after he learnt about Karan’s suicide,” said Panchkula Commissioner of Police A S Chawla.
The CP added, “Also, the mother of the victim’s friend, a girl, has been taken into confidence and has been asked to confiscate her phone. We along with school authorities have got in touch with all other parents who too have been asked not to give phones to these boys and keep a close watch on them.”
The police suspect that students have purchased SIM cards on fake addresses to play the game. Sources said that the phone number of another classmate said to be playing the Blue Whale game was found to have been registered on a fake address when verified by the police.
Karan’s mobile phone was taken into custody by the police, who found that the Instagram and WhatsApp accounts on it were deleted. Also, there were certain pictures which were deleted but the police claim that they could be retrieved.
Read | 17-year-old boy commits suicide in Panchkula, mother says he was addicted
“The victim told his mother since his exams are here, he would delete these accounts. Moreover, the mobile screen was found broken so we are investigating every angle,” added the officer.
Karan was to appear for his Maths exam on Monday. He had taken his Hindi exam on September 21. His parents pressed him to eat breakfast before they left for the hospital on the fateful day, but the boy said he would not.
“Our experts have told us that the link is deleted before somebody goes for this extreme step. But there are certain indicative things in the phone about the Blue Whale game,” the police said.
Vibha Ray, principal of DAV Senior Secondary School in Sector 8, Chandigarh, said Karan, who was otherwise a bright student, had been absenting himself from school of late.
Also read | What is the Blue Whale Challenge?
16-year-old Karan Thakur allegedly committed suicide on Saturday morning. The police is probing whether he was a victim of the Blue Whale Challenge.
“According to our teachers, he would remain absent frequently. As we have a WhatsApp group of parents and teachers, our staff informed the parents who said that because of his back problem, he couldn’t turn up at the school,” the principal told Chandigarh Newsline.
Karan’s father went to the school on Monday morning to inform the management about his son falling victim to Blue Whale. The school authorities swung into action and called parents of Karan’s classmates and told them not to give mobile phones to their kids.
You May Like
