Was the ‘Blue Whale Challenge’ the reason behind the Indian student’s death in the US?
Probe has revealed that the death of the Indian student was possibly due to a macabre online game of dares called the “Blue Whale Challenge“, which has also been called the “suicide game“.
The “Blue Whale Challenge” is an online game in which participants are given a dare to perform and these dares become increasingly more difficult over 50 steps.
Gregg Miliote, a spokesperson for the Bristol County District Attorney said the case is being investigated as “apparent suicide”.
The boy a first-year student at the University of Massachusetts, was found dead on March 8.
This death was widely reported as a murder in which the student was misidentified as enrolled at Boston University and was said to have been robbed and the body was found in a car in a jungle.
This student from India’s fatal challenge was holding his breath for two minutes, according to official sources.
This may be the first instance of a Blue Whale challenge fatality for India.
The cause of death by suicide while playing this dangerous game which is known to prey on teens and young adults around the world, needs to be reported as a cautionary incident for Indian students and teens in India and abroad and parents.
The Indian government had wanted to ban this game years ago but settled for a more detailed advisory instead.
“Blue whale game (The suicide game) is abetment to suicide,” said the Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in the advisory issued in 2017, a year after the emergence of the game.
“It is understood through various internet reports that it is shared among secretive groups on social media networks. The creators seek out their players/victims who are in depression and send them an invitation to join. The basis of the challenge is that an anonymous ‘group administrator’, otherwise known as ‘the curator’, hands out 50 tasks to selected ‘players’ that must be completed, documented, and posted during a 50-day period. Players of the challenge can’t stop playing once they’ve started; they are blackmailed and cyberbullied into completing the ‘game’ instead.”
Asked specifically about the student’s death in this game, Miliote said, “Have no info about this. The case is being investigated as an apparent suicide. Awaiting the medical examiner’s final conclusions before the case is closed out. This was on March 22. There has been no response to requests for an update. He did not respond to a text and a voice call message on Friday.”
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