Student hangs self in Puducherry

A 21-year-old management student committed suicide late on Thursday in Puducherry, police said on Friday, in what could be the second death related to the dangerous Blue Whale Challenge online game in two days in south India.

Shashikant Borha was found hanging from a tree in the Pondicherry University Hostel campus at midnight.

Hailing from Assam, he had joined the MBA programme of the Pondicherry University two months ago.

Borha used a towel to commit suicide two days after a Tamil Nadu college student J Vighnesh used his mother’s sari to hang himself from a ceiling fan in his house.

“You can enter it, but cannot exit the game,” the 19-year-old from Madurai said in his note.

Police have not ascribed Borha’s death to the Blue Whale game, which goads players to do self-destructive tasks for 50 days before taking the final step of death by suicide, but students at the university believe he could be a victim.

According to his classmates, Borha had downloaded the game on his mobile phone and his laptop. “Shashikant had sent messages that he was the admin of the Blue Whale group,” a student told reporters.

They said Borha was a loner and seemingly very depressed for the past four days.

Police, however, said there were no cut marks or bruises on his body, which has been sent for a post mortem examination.

Police are investigating the case and will come out with a detailed finding, a senior police officer said.

A string of cases has been reported from across India of deaths or suicide attempts linked to the game developed in Russia.

THOUGH POLICE HAVE NOT ASCRIBED BORHA’S DEATH TO THE BLUE WHALE GAME, STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY BELIEVE HE COULD BE A VICTIM