India

Teenager commits suicide in MP; ‘Blue Whale’ case suspected

A 17-year-old teenager has committed suicide in Damoh in Madhya Pradesh by jumping in front of a running train allegedly to complete the deadly online Blue Whale Challenge game, officials said.

Satvik Pandey, a Class 11 student, committed suicide on Saturday night, police said on Sunday. A CCTV camera installed at a house near the railway tracks recorded the episode.

According to the teenager’s friends, he was “quite absorbed in the Blue Whale game for the past few days”.

Damoh Superintendent of Police Vivek Agarwal told IANS on Sunday that Satvik’s family members, however, said the Blue Whale game did not drive him to commit suicide.

His family members said “Satvik was weak in mathematics and he took the extreme step out of frustration”. An investigation is underway, said the police officer.

The Blue Whale Challenge game is targeted at teenagers and forces them to perform several dangerous activities, finally leading them to commit suicide. The game has claimed many lives in India and across the world.

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IANS

IANS, also known as Indo-Asian News Service is a private news agency. IANS covers topics related to politics, entertainment, sports, general and world news etc.