Blue Whale Challenge: 14-year-old allegedly commits suicide in Lucknow

A 14-year-old boy allegedly hanged himself in his room in Lucknow and police were probing if the incident is linked to the Blue Whale Challenge, an online dare game that has been linked to hundreds of teen deaths across the world.

The body of Aditya Vardhan was found hanging in his room in Indira Nagar on Thursday, police said. His friends said he was playing the dreaded game on his mobile for the past two weeks and was tense.

The Uttar Pradesh Police had last week issued directives to police chiefs of all districts to ban the game.

Director General of Police Sulkhan Singh has asked officials to make efforts to contact school authorities and ensure that children are prevented from playing the game.

Taking cognisance of the suicides, the Union Information Technology Ministry had also directed social media giants such as Facebook, Google and Instagram to remove links of the controversial game from their sites, the DGP said.