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AGRA: A family living in a sleepy lane along Devri road here is yet to recover from the massive ‘Blue Whale’ blow. The house owner, who runs a furniture shop, was called by college authorities on Thursday after he returned with his daughter who had boarded Punjab Mail on Tuesday with a friend to execute a Blue Whale challenge.
These two girls from Agra are students of Class 9 in Army Public School in Cantonment. The school authorities were aware about the matter as worried parents contacted them on Tuesday evening. It turned out that both girls had not attended school and had not even gone for tuition. They simply changed their clothes before boarding Punjab Mail on Tuesday morning.
A WORRIED AND HELPLESS FAMILY
Now that they are home, the girls are not allowed to talk to anyone and even women in the neighbourhood of one of the girls living in Kasturi Vihar near Devri Road bluntly refused to interact. However, the girl’s uncle said her father had gone to school to talk to the authorities and defence officials looking after education in Cantonment area.
“I had read about this Blue Whale and we laughed at those opting to participate in the deadly game but did not know our family member was already ‘bitten’ by Blue Whale’,” said the girl’s uncle who returned from Honshangabad in MP on Thursday.
“She went for tuition after school and we had no idea she had boarded the train. We were worried when she didn’t return by evening and began the search but received a call at about 10 pm on Tuesday and came to know about her well-being,” he told HT.
The girl, according to family members, was good in studies and no one had any inkling she was mixed up with the Blue Whale. “She never talked about it,” her uncle said.
After the family came to know she was in Hoshangabad, she was convinced to return on the pretext that her mother’s health was bad. Both the girls had switched off their phones but got wary once it turned dark.
SCHOOL TO INVESTIGATE
Principal and teachers at Army Public School too were on the defensive and not willing to talk. However, the school issued a press statement later in the day.
“We are concerned and will investigate the parents’ claim that these girls moved on their own without informing parents,” said the principal, seemingly worried that other students too may be taking on the Blue Whale challenges.
“We were informed that the children had not returned home on September 12 evening and it was found they were absent from school. Three teachers were deputed to trace the girls along with their parents. One of the teachers accompanied the parents to the railway station and reported the matter to the railway police,” said the press statement.