Darjeeling, August 24: An 18-year-old boy was found dead near his house in Darjeeling on Monday night. According to reports, Manish Sarki, a Class 12 boy, was found hanging in a secluded area with drawings and words like ‘Illuminati’, ‘hanged man’ and ‘devil’s one eye’ inscribed on the wall. The police are investigating the possibility of the boy having fallen prey to WhatsApp suicide game Momo Challenge.

The boy had reportedly had gone missing on August 20. He was found hanging in a livestock shed close to his house on Monday night. Sarita Sharma, a teacher of St Alphonsus School where Manish studied, said as quoted by ANI, “A few of Manish’s friends also played the Momo Challenge but withdrew themselves after some time.”

The Momo Challenge reminds one of the Blue Whale Challenge that led to several suicides last year.

Earlier this week, a college girl in West Bengal filed a complaint with the police on Tuesday about an unknown caller who allegedly invited her into participating in 'Momo Game' challenge. The first year college girl in her complaint said that she received a message over WhatsApp from an unknown number as she had posted in the social media that she wished to take her own life after a spat with her mother during the day. She was invited to participate in the challenge.

The game started over Facebook where people exchanged numbers and then came on WhatsApp with children chatting with the character Momo. The ‘Momo Challenge’ is a new virtual suicide game. It is also said to be a successor of the notorious 'Blue Whale Game' and has made headway in several countries and claimed 130 lives alone in Russia

 

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 24, 2018 05:45 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).