The death of a 22-year-old youth at Thalassery in a suspected case of suicide nearly three months ago will be probed in the wake of the suspicion raised by his parents that their son could have been a victim of the online game Blue Whale Challenge.
The Thalassery police said the death would be probed in detail to see if it had any link with the online game in the wake of the suspicion raised by the parents of M.K. Savath hailing from Kolassery near Thalassery who ended his life three months ago. During the preliminary probe earlier, the motive of suicide was thought to be a case of failed love affair, the police said.
The parents have now come out saying that the online game could be what pushed their son to take the extreme step. The suspicion was raised amid growing concern that Blue Whale Challenge is influencing vulnerable youngsters to take their own lives. They said that their son used to be an addict of online games and he used to play till late hours.
“I thought that our son ended his life due to some issues related to youngsters and when I heard from the media about the connection between the online game and incidents of suicide, I felt that my son also could be a victim of the game,” Shakhee, mother of Savath, told The Hindu when contacted. She said that though Savath had been taken to different doctors to help him get out of the gaming addiction, he continued the habit. She said Savath used to inflict injuries in his body and used to step out of the house in the odd hours of night. She said she was disclosing her suspicion to alert parents to keep an eye on their children’s online activities.
Savath was the only son of Shakhee and Hareendran, residents of Kolassery. Savath had completed his Industrial Training Institute course and was about to join for work when he committed suicide.
