Blue Whale Strikes Again! Two Kerala Families Say Their Sons Committed Suicide After Playing The Game

The deadly online challenge game, which is spreading like wildfire appears to have claimed more victim in India than what is already been reported. With the news about the deadly game making headlines now more and more people have come forward expressing doubts about the deaths of their family members.

Two new suspected cases of Blue Whale deaths have now surfaced from Kerala.

In the first case, the family of Manoj C Manu, a teenager from Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram who committed suicide last month has now approached police claiming that they doubt the role of the game in his death.

In their complaint, the family said Manoj who was a class XI student had downloaded the game nine months ago and had been addicted to it since.

Manoj C Manu/ Facebook

His mother Anu told a Malayalam news channel that she had talked him out of it. But with the recent reports of the Blue Whale challenge, she said Manoj's behaviour was similar to those killed themselves playing the dare game.

She claimed that Manoj, who never used to go out alone had visited a beach by himself, jumped into a river despite not knowing how to swim and even used to visit a cemetery.

Manoj was found hanging at his home on July 26.

Police who had earlier registered a case of unnatural death said they will look into the possibility, but expressed doubts as Manoj had hung himself, whereas, in all the other reported cases of deaths or attempts to kill themselves, the gamers had jumped off buildings.

Another similar case has surfaced from Kannur, where an IIT student named Sawant killed himself last month.

According to Swanta's mother her son used to spent the whole night playing the game on his phone and frequently used to venture out from home at night only to return in the morning.

After he began hurting himself and inscribing letters on his body using a compass, Swant's family who thought he had mental issues had taken him for counselling.

He committed suicide last month by hanging himself.

While the links to the two deaths and the challenge game is yet to be established, this is not the first such report from Kerala. After it was reported that two teenagers ventured into a beach in Alappuzha under suspicious circumstances, the Kerala government had urged the central government to ban the game.

The Central government has already directed internet companies like Google, Facebook and Microsoft to remove links to the game from their services.

So far, there is one confirmed case of Blue Whale death in India, a 14-year-old Mumbai boy who killed himself playing the game.

There have been a number of reports attempted suicides from many parts of the country since.

The Blue Whale is a challenge based game developed by some Russian programmers. It is said to be involving daily challenges for the gamers from daring to risky. Some of them include watching horror movies alone to hurting themselves.

In the 50th level, it is said that the participants are challenged to attempt suicide. In all the stages, the participant is asked to make a video of the challenge.

The administrator whom the player is in contact is said to emotionally blackmail the player to complete the challenge.