Blue Whale Challenge: ''Master'' blamed for instigating Mumbai teen to kill himself

Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service
Mumbai, August 1

A 'master' who controlled the actions of those participating in the controversial Blue Whale computer game may have instigated a 14-year old Mumbai boy to commit suicide last Saturday, NCP leader Ajit Pawar said in the Maharashtra Assembly on Tuesday.

Manpreet Sahans, 14, a student of class 9 jumped from the terrace of his five-storeyed building in suburban Andheri, police said. According to the local police, the boy has been playing the Blue Whale challenge game on his mobile phone for several days.

The NCP leader said the Maharashtra government should make efforts to trace the 'master' who instigated the boy to jump off a terrace to win the game.

After Pawar raised the issue on the floor of the house, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the participants in the game were controlled by people outside the country. However, the state government would urge the central government to ban the Blue Whale challenge game, Fadnavis told the state legislature.

"We are probing the tragic suicide of the boy who died playing the Blue Whale challenge," Fadnavis told the state assembly.

The chief minister also stated that more than one hundred suicides have been reported across the world by those playing the game. 

About the game

'Blue Whale Challenge’ is an online game that is believed to have originated in Russia, where several teenagers have killed themselves over it. The game starts by asking participants to draw a blue whale on a piece of paper, and later onto their own flesh.

The game advances innocuous challenges at first, such as waking up at unusual hours, or watching horror movies alone. However, the challenges get progressively dangerous. The administrator usually sets the tasks over 50 days. The last task is suicide.

Although Russia has the highest victims, 'The Blue Whale Challenge' is also believed to have claimed lives in the UK and the US.

The game's name comes from the phenomenon of beached whales, a process by which the mammals strand themselves on a beach. 

The creator of the game, Philipp Budeikin, was sentenced to three years of jail by a court in Russia for having incited at least 16 schoolgirls to kill themselves. He is reported to have told investigators when he was arrested that he was "cleansing society". (With agencies)