‘Chennaiites make up group with whale link’
PUDUCHERRY: Puducherry Director General of Police S K Gautham said almost all the members in a WhatsApp group, in which a link to the suicide game Blue Whale Challenge was posted, were from Chennai. The group was tracked down after a youth named B Alexander, a native of Karaikal, confessed to playing the notorious game, the link to which he received from the group.
Following this, the Puducherry Police alerted the Chennai Police requesting them to inquire about the group named ‘Mersal’, which had 73 members. Many of them are friends and office colleagues of the said youth, he said.
Alexandar (22) started playing the game after receiving the link and had proceeded to the fifth level before he was rescued by police, based on an alert from his younger brother. However, after his rescue, his mobile phone got formatted when he pressed a button on the app, said the DGP. “It’s a condition the player is asked to do in case anyone finds out that he is playing the game, otherwise he will have to face some serious consequences,” he added.
Alexander had clicked on the link to receive an app. After providing information about himself, including his mail id, phone number, Facebook and other social media accounts with passwords and access to his personal details on the phone, he was assessed by the curator through chats to find out whether the person would ultimately take up the final challenge of suicide.
“It remains unknown whether other members of the same group have taken up the Blue Whale Challenge. If so, they need to be saved. The member of the group, who posted the link, should be probed,” said the DGP.