A 19-year-old college student here committed suicide, becoming the first suspected victim of the macabre online game Blue Whale in Tamil Nadu, triggering alarm across the state.
The body of Vignesh, a second year B.Com student, was found hanging at his home by his father on Wednesday evening. A picture of blue whale was found drawn on his hand, leading to the suspicion that Vignesh was prodded to death by the online game.
A note was also recovered from his residence stating "Blue Whale is not a game but danger and once entered, you can never exit".
The 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 abroad.
Alarmed by the development, the Madurai administration and police have swung into action.
Madurai District Collector Veeraraghava Rao told the media that there was as yet no confirmation that the boy has died because of the game.
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"The Chief Medical Officer is supervising the post-mortem which was being video recorded while police have constituted a special cell under a Superintendent to probe the case," he said.
Rao said there were no cut marks on his body except the picture of a whale on his hand.
Superintendent of Police Manivannan said an awareness campaign was being initiated in schools throughout the district to wean away students from the dangerous game.
He said the police were also arranging for counselling for students and would welcome parents and activists to inform schools and police if they needed assistance.
--IANS
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