Preliminary enquiry into the alleged suicide of J. Vignesh alias Vickey, 19, of Vilacheri near here, on Wednesday has led the Madurai police to suspect that the boy took his life after playing the Blue Whale game . The online game, which is believed to have originated in Russia, involves 50 extreme tasks, which a participant is required to undertake and eventually culminates in his/her suicide.
Superintendent of Police N. Manivannan said that circumstantial evidence and enquiry with the family members revealed that the teen was playing the online game.
Besides the image and words of Blue Whale pierced on his left forearm, the suicide note also confirmed that he was very much engrossed in the game. In a suicide note, he had said that Blue Whale was not a game but a disaster. “Once you enter it, you can’t escape from it,” it said.
Mr. Manivannan said that the family members had told the police that the boy had been playing some game on his smart phone.
While the father, Jeyamani, who works in a bakery, and mother Daisy Rani could not give any specific details about the game, his brother, J. Sathyamoorthy, 24, claimed that he had seen Vignesh playing some game stealthily during odd hours.
“Sathyamoorthy had noticed the boy playing some game on the terrace late in the night and early in the mornings. When he asked Vignesh about it, he had threatened to commit suicide,” the SP said.
‘Why hanging’
Meanwhile, the police suspect that the administrator of the Blue Whale team could have realised that the building of the Vilacheri house did not have the required height to kill the boy in the event of his jumping from the terrace.
In other suspected Blue Whale game-related suicides, the participants had ended their lives by jumping off buildings.
“The height of the terrace is only around 10 feet. Realising this factor, the administrators of the game could have asked him to end his life by hanging,” Mr. Manivannan contended.
“We suspect that he could have played the game online. The cyber cell team is working on it,” the SP said.
Only after examining the phone, details such as how long the boy was playing the game could be ascertained through the internet protocol addresses, he added.
Meanwhile, the police have sought the help of the Computer Emergency Response Team of Ministry of Communication and Informations Technology in deciphering the messages. The police are also trying to trace a team of Sri Lankan youth with whom the teen was in touch.
