In recent years, multiple cases of unfortunate deaths related to online gaming addiction have made the news, and today, we regretfully report that another such incident has occurred where a 14-year-old boy living in Mumbai, India has allegedly committed suicide as a result of gaming addiction.
The boy is said to have been addicted to this recently banned battle royale game Garena Free Fire, and the Bhoiwada police are currently investigating to find out if it was something related to the game that led the boy to take this extreme step.
According to the Police, the boy’s father, who works as a designer for a private, received a call from his son on Sunday at 7:22 PM. The father could not receive the call as he was traveling with his wife, as per a report by Hindustan Times. When he called his son back a few minutes later, the boy did not answer the call.
Upon returning home, the parents noticed that their son’s room was locked. The father had to break the glass frame above the door to unlock it, following which, the unfortunate father found his son dead inside the room. The police informed that the body was sent to KEM Hospital for post-mortem.
Vijay Patil, the Deputy Commissioner of Police, zone 4, has stated that “Preliminary probe has revealed that the boy was addicted to Free Fire online game, but what exactly triggered him to take the extreme step is still a mystery.”
However, both the parents and the boy’s school teachers have shared that the boy has never shown any signs of gaming addiction. They have stated that the boy was a bright student and fond of cricket.
The Police have also stated that “The online game he was addicted to needed to be played in groups. So we are trying to find out who his friends were and who were his co-players in the game so as to ascertain if anything happened during the game that led him to take the drastic step.”
With this in mind, the police have sent the boy’s mobile phone to the forensic laboratory to retrieve its data. The initial reports have revealed that the boy mostly surfed websites related to the Free Fire game and cricket.
Jitendra Pawar, Senior Inspector, Bhoiwada police, said, “No note written by the boy was found. Nothing important from his mobile conversations with his friends is found. His teachers say that he was studious. His parents also didn’t complain of anything suspicious,”
The investigation is still underway to figure out if it was indeed the boy’s gaming addiction that drove the boy to take this drastic step or if it was due to some other reason.
