They threatened to kill my parents: Victim

“I was really afraid that if I did not commit suicide they would kill my parents,” says class 10 student Ramesh (not his real name), days after he was rescued from the clutches of the Blue Whale Challenge.

“They had also warned me not to tell anyone that I was playing the game, so in desperation I wrote about my predicament in the Sanskrit paper answer sheet, hoping someone would notice,” he revealed.

Luckily for him, his teacher Hemlata Sharma noticed the message and informed the headmaster of the school and other officials who promptly counselled him to stop playing the game and assured him that nothing would happen to his parents.

Ramesh, who lives in Khilchipur, a small town in MP’s Rajgarh district, had been playing the

game for the past two months.

“I tried to follow each and every instruction given to me, like watching a horror film after midnight, but sometimes I

fudged,” he says.

He laughs about it now, but the anxiety of playing the game, and keeping it a secret from everyone was preying on him and affecting him physically. “I had severe headaches and stomach cramps during that period, and often missed school,” Ramesh said.

To avoid being caught, Ramesh used to play the game after midnight, when his parents were asleep. At every step, there was a warning that something wrong would happen to his family if he did not complete the task.

But then his mobile developed a snag and he gave it for repair. It took around a week to repair it. And his exams were also nearing and he started avoiding the game.

“But the messages I received became more ominous with each passing day and finally they threatened to kill my parents,” Ramesh said.

“I never realised that the game could be so dangerous,” Ramesh said. He had been searching for the game on Google for some time and one day he got a link for the game which he opened and started playing.

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