Blue Whale Challenge claims first victim in Tamil Nadu: 19-year-old Madurai student commits suicide

A 19-year-old college student from Tamil Nadu’s Madurai district committed suicide on Wednesday by hanging himself inside his house, according to a India Today report. The report added that the suicide is linked to the Blue Whale Challenge, a suicide game in which the player is given certain tasks to complete for a period of 50 days and the final task leads the player to commit suicide. The player is also asked to share photos after finishing each challenge.

According to an NDTV report, the police recovered a note from Vignesh’s home, who was a second year B.com student at a private college, that read, “Blue whale is not a game, once you enter you can’t exit.” Police also found the image of a whale carved on Vignesh’s left hand with ‘Blue Whale’ beneath it, adds the report.

This is the first death reported in Tamil Nadu due to the Blue Whale Challenge, according to The New Indian Express. On 28 August, Chennai Police had issued an advisory to parents to monitor their social media activity in the backdrop of the Blue Whale challenge. Teenagers and young adults in their formative years seek social validation, acceptance and aspire to be part of something bigger than them and this game “exploits this aspect,” the advisory had said. The advisory was being given in view of the propensity of the game to instigate suicide and self-inflicted injuries and to prevent children from becoming potential victims of this “harmful game. On 28 August, the Blue Whale Challenge claimed its first victim in Uttar Pradesh ’s Hamirpur district, police had said. With inputs from PTI