Blue Whale game addict hangs himself after asking for psychiatric help

A 17-year-old boy from northern India is the latest reported victim of the suicidal online game Blue Whale Challenge, which originated in Russia.

Karan Thakur hanged himself at his Panchkula residence in Haryana state on Friday (22 September), days after asking his mother to take him to a psychiatrist to get rid of his addiction to the game, police said recently.

Police said that the deceased teen's parents found the game downloaded on his mobile phone when they checked it on Saturday. They also found a notebook in which he had made drawings of hanging himself, with the words: "I should just die. No one likes me. No one loves me. I don't deserve to live".

The boy was a student of DAV School in Chandigarh city near Panchkula, the Indian Express reported.

Police have initiated an investigation into the case and more details are awaited.

Meanwhile, the teenager's mother told police that days before his death, he had told her that he was getting addicted to a game and needed psychiatric help. It was not immediately clear if the boy had seen a therapist before taking the extreme step, which forms the last stage of the deadly online game.

The game that has led to the deaths of many across the world requires its players to perform a set of difficult tasks at every stage, most of which includes inflicting pain upon oneself. The final stage involves killing oneself.

In the recent past, many deaths of teenagers in India have been linked to this dangerous game. In a shocking discovery for police, nearly 30 tribal children from a restive tribal area in central India were found playing a local adaptation of the game and drawing a Blue Whale-like creature on their arms with sharp objects.