First Indian teen victim of Blue Whale suicide game Challenge

Mumbai: Which is the most dangerous game you think? If kick-boxing, boxing are coming to your mind, you are far from the mark. There is a game that ends when the player takes his or her own life to win it! The online game, The Blue Whale, that took its first victim in India recently, encourages its young players to complete a series of 50 sinister tasks over a period of 50 days till the ‘suicide finish’.
The Blue Whale suicide game goes by many names including ‘A Silent House,’ ‘A Sea Of Whales’ and ‘Wake Me Up At 4:20am’.
The game originated in Russia and it was held responsible by the Russian media for the suicide by 80 to 130 children between November 2015 and April 2016.
The game’s administrator or curator find players through “death groups” or “suicide groups” on a Russian website.
A friend of the 14-year-old Mumbai boy, whose suicide is being linked to the Blue Whale challenge, remembered the victim as well-mannered. They used to play cricket together for the past 4-5 years in the area. Speaking to HT, the friend claimed that the 14-year-old had told them that he would not be coming to school from July 31. The boy committed suicide by jumping from the fifth floor of an Andheri (East) building on July 29.
“He was very friendly, and we never thought he would take such a drastic step,” the friend added. The friend said the victim had told one of them that he was participating in some online game, but they didn’t pay heed as none of them had heard of the Blue Whale challenge until he committed suicide.
The boy’s family, meanwhile, has returned from Nashik after performing his last rites. The police will soon be speaking to them, and would also be checking his personal details like social media accounts and whatsapp messages.
The death has sparked the fear that the dangerous self-harm online challenge could have made its way to India through social media networking.
An eyewitness, who lives in the opposite building, told the police that he had seen the boy walk on the terrace wall and had tried called out to him and stop him from jumping. The person saw the boy try to make at least two attempts to jump, and did not respond to his repeated calls. By the time the witness rushed out of his home to get help, the boy had jumped off the building.
The game, which is believed to have been the brainchild of an arrested Russian national who admitted to have psychologically manipulated teen girls to kill themselves, has since then claimed more than 100 lives in Russia and UK.
The issue was raised in the House by senior Nationalist Congress Party legislator and former deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar who said the incident was an “alarm bell for us”.
In his reply, Fadnavis, who also holds Home portfolio, said, “It is an online game and can be controlled. We will set up an inquiry into the tragic suicide incident of a student due to ‘Blue Whale’ game. The state government will further coordinate with the Centre to take action and remedies”.
While a team of Meghwadi police is investigating all possible angles to ascertain the reason behind the suicide, as of now, the police said they have not found any link to the online Blue Whale challenge.
What is the Blue Whale Challenge?
The Blue Whale Challenge calls on participants, via social media, to complete a dangerous self-harm challenge every day for 50 days before they are encouraged to “win” the game by killing themselves. The tasks range from cutting a body part, listening to music and watching scary movies. The last task is committing suicide. Over 100 children are believed to have died in Russia and UK, as per reports.
Here’s the list of the 50 tasks that the players are generally asked to complete in this suicide game:
1. Carve with a razor “f57” on your hand, send a photo to the curator.
2. Wake up at 4.20 a.m. and watch psychedelic and scary videos that curator sends you.
3. Cut your arm with a razor along your veins, but not too deep, only 3 cuts, send a photo to the curator.
4. Draw a whale on a sheet of paper, send a photo to curator.
5. If you are ready to “become a whale”, carve “YES” on your leg. If not, cut yourself many times (punish yourself).
6. Task with a cipher.
7. Carve “f40” on your hand, send a photo to curator.
8. Type “#i_am_whale” in your VKontakte status.
9. You have to overcome your fear.
10. Wake up at 4:20 a.m. and go to a roof (the higher the better)
11. Carve a whale on your hand with a razor, send a photo to curator.
12. Watch psychedelic and horror videos all day.
13. Listen to music that “they” (curators) send you.
14. Cut your lip.
15. Poke your hand with a needle many times.
16. Do something painful to yourself, make yourself sick.
17. Go to the highest roof you can find, stand on the edge for some time.
18. Go to a bridge, stand on the edge.
19. Climb up a crane or at least try to do it.
20. The curator checks if you are trustworthy.
21. Have a talk “with a whale” (with another player like you or with a curator) in Skype.
22. Go to a roof and sit on the edge with your legs dangling.
23. Another task with a cipher.
24. Secret task.
25. Have a meeting with a “whale.”
26. The curator tells you the date of your death and you have to accept it.
27. Wake up at 4:20 a.m. and go to rails (visit any railroad that you can find).
28. Don’t talk to anyone all day.
29. Make a vow that “you’re a whale.”
30-49. Every day you wake up at 4:20am, watch horror videos, listen to music that “they” send you, make 1 cut on your body per day, talk “to a whale.”
50. Jump off a high building. Take your life.

- Advertisement -