'Blue Whale' claims first victim in UP

A 13-year old child, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Hamirpur district, about 200 kilometres from here, became the first victim of the killer online game 'Blue Whale' in the state.

According to the police sources here, Parth Singh, a seventh standard student, was found hanging from the ceiling fan at his residence in Maudaha town in the district on Sunday evening.

Parth's father Vikram Singh said that his son had been addicted to the online game and was often seen playing the same.

''We had admonished him several times and asked him not to play the game but he did not heed our advice,'' a distraught Vikram said.

He said that on Sunday evening Parth, who was busy on the mobile phone, suddenly went into his room and locked the door from inside. 

His parents had to break the door to gain entry after Parth did not open the door after knocking. They found their son hanging from the ceiling fan. He was rushed to the hospital but was declared brought dead by the doctors. 

''I am sure Blue Whale game is behind the suicide,'' Vikram said.

Police officials said that the mobile phone would be sent to the experts for examination to ascertain if it had Blue Whale game. 

Parth, incidentally, is the first victim of the deadly online game in UP. It has already claimed lives of several children in different parts of the country in the past few days. 

Alarmed by the suicides by children, the centre had directed the social networking sites to remove all links to the game. The game has claimed many lives across the world.