Blue Whale Challenge? Boy attempts jump from 3rd floor
BHOPAL: A Class 7 student of Chameli Devi Public School in Indore attempted to jump from the third floor of the school after the assembly on Thursday morning, apparently as part of the Blue Whale Challenge.
In the game, the participants are asked to perform increasingly difficult tasks and finally egged on to commit suicide by the game’s administrators.
According to Rajendra Nagar police station in charge, inspector V P Sharma, the incident took place just after the school assembly. Some students saw the boy leaning precariously from the school’s third floor railing.
Initially, they thought he was looking down at something, but soon realised from the way the boy was bending over that he might fall. They caught hold of him and shouted for help. Hearing them, the school’s physical education teacher, Farooq Sheikh, came and pulled the boy back.
“We took him to the principal’s room, where he confessed he was attempting suicide as part of the Blue Whale Challenge which he was playing on his father’s mobile,” said Sheikh.
The boy was reportedly in the 50th day of the challenge and the controllers of the game had egged him to jump from the third floor. However, this could not be independently confirmed from the family. The school’s principal, Sangeeta Podar, said soon after the incident they informed the boy’s parents and police also reached. “We counselled the boy and also his father,” she told mediapersons. She said the boy appeared normal and was quite good in studies.
The incident took place a day after a 14-year-old Solapur boy who left home after reportedly playing the Blue Whale Challenge for the past five days was rescued by Pune rural police from Bhigwan. The game allegedly claimed its first Indian victim when a 14-year-old boy from Andheri jumped to death on August 1. Mumbai police are yet to conclusively say that the suicide was part of the Blue Whale challenge.