Bhubaneswar: In the wake of the death of a youth last week reportedly after falling prey to Momo challenge, a cyber bullying game, the Crime Branch of Odisha Police Saturday issued an advisory alerting parents and teachers on the impending dangers of Momo.
The internet game has similarities with the infamous Blue Whale game which has claimed many innocent lives two years back.
The Momo Challenge comes from an unknown number, having the profile of a girl’s distorted face with protruding eyes and wide-open mouth on the popular social media platform WhatsApp. Criminals operating the malicious game target innocent teens having suicidal tendencies after analyzing the victim’s social media status and profile.
“Unknown links coming to your Whatsapp number should be deleted immediately,” warns the police advisory. “Block unknown numbers in the Whatsapp list of the user as invitations to play the game or challenge generally come from these numbers,” says the alert.
The advisory was issued after an engineering student from Odisha who apparently fell a victim to the game committed suicide by jumping off a hospital’s sixth floor in Chennai August 22. The police Saturday have confirmed that the youth took the extreme step on the instructions of the online game operators.
The deceased was identified as S Chetan Kumar, 20, a resident of Rourkela who was pursuing engineering at a private college in Bhubaneswar. Family members of the victim have demanded an inquiry into the role of the deadly online game behind the death of their son. The police are investigating the case.
As per reports, Chetan, on the directions of the game, started off for Chennai August 20 and reached the metropolis August 21 and was trying to reach the seventh floor of Rajiv Gandhi Memorial Hospital building to complete the game.
However, he could not get a chance to jump off the building August 21, but went to the sixth floor of the hospital and jumped off August 22 at about 7:40 am. Chetan’s brother S Hemant got a call from the Chennai police after which the family rushed to Chennai, but by then he had succumbed to the injuries.
The police advisory enumerates the signs and symptoms of vulnerable victims of the malicious game. The victim slowly shows withdrawal symptoms and evades the company of friends and family members. He will always look worried, depressed and unhappy.
The victim will abstain from regular tasks and the activities which she/he enjoyed the most. The victim will also get irritated suddenly and show symptoms of short-temper while dealing with others. Parents or teachers should be watchful about another important feature is that the game player will have wound marks or deep cut marks on any part of the body.
The advisory presents a set of advices for the parents who are mostly responsible to keep their wards out of the trap of the deadly challenge.
