Will not be coming to school from Monday: Mumbai boy told pals

MUMBAI: A friend of the 14-yearold 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-yearold had told them that he would not be coming to school from Monday. The boy committed suicide by jumping from the fifth floor of an Andheri (East) building on Saturday. “He was very friendly, and we never thought he would take such a drastic step,” the friend added.

He said the victim had told one of them that he was participating in an 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 will also be checking his social media accounts and WhatsApp messages. His death has sparked the fear that the dangerous self-harm online challenge could have made its way to India.

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.

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 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.