Reason for Indian student's death in UK: What is the 'Blue Whale Challenge'?

Often called the 'suicide game', allegedly it has claimed over 130 lives in countries like India, US and China as the game 'challenges' the player to complete certain tasks of self-harm and ultimately suicide.

According to a report by News18, a 20-year-old Indian student in the United States, died by suicide when he took his own life while completing tasks of a game called 'Blue Whale Challenge'.

The victim who was a first-year student at the University of Massachusetts, was found dead on March 8.

According to News18, the student's death case, which is 'apparently considered suicide', is under probe, a spokesperson for the Bristol County District Attorney, Gregg Miliote said.

The case which widely being reported as a murder, says that the victim was wrongly identified to be enrolled in the Boston University, robbed and his corpse was found in a vehicle in a jungle.

The 'Blue Whale Challenge' game

An online game, the 'Blue Whale Challenge' gives its players 'dares' to perform, and the difficulty level of these dares keeps on increasing at every step till until 50 steps.

Blackmailing or cyber bullying restricts the player's escape from the game leading to self-harm.

According to News18, official sources say that this Indian student was performing the dare by holding his breath for 2 minutes.

This happens to be the first casualty due to this game challenge for India.

According to News18, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology of India said, "Blue whale game (The suicide game) is abetment to suicide," as it presented a detailed advisory, rather than putting a ban on the game.

According to the publication, the advisory further read, "It is understood through various internet reports that it is shared among secretive groups on social media networks. The creators seek out their players/victims who are in depression and send them an invitation to join. The basis of the challenge is that an anonymous ‘group administrator’, otherwise known as ‘the curator’, hands out 50 tasks to selected ‘players’ that must be completed, documented and posted during a 50-day period. Players of the challenge can’t stop playing once they’ve started; they are blackmailed and cyber bullied into completing the ‘game’ instead."

When asked about the Indian student's death, Miliote said, "Have no info about this. Case is being investigated as an apparent suicide. Awaiting medical examiner’s final conclusions before case is closed out. This was on March 22. There has been no response to requests for an update. He did not respond to a text and a voice call message on Friday."

The creator of the game, Philipp Budeikin, is a former convict in Russia. According to a report by Times of India, Budeikin was arrested and charged with charges for provoking 16 adolescents to kill themselves.