A Russian teenage girl has been arrested on suspicion of being the real mastermind behind the online game Blue Whale Challenge, which is being held responsible for several teen suicides worldwide. The 17-year-old girl was arrested from the Khabarovsk Krai region of Russia.
Reports say this girl used to give death threats to multiple victims whenever they failed or refused to complete a task, which was a part of the challenge.
Russian state investigators have said the girl, who has been called the "death group administrator," was a former player of this game but did not finish the challenge, and thus ended up being the admin for this game.
The police raided the teen's house and found several drawings, as well as the portrait of the 22-year-old Philipp Budeikin, who created the game.
The maker of the game was arrested earlier this year and was sentenced to three years in prison. Despite he being in jail, the challenge has continued to claim lives.
"In contrast to similar groups, teenagers in this group were blackmailed with death threats against them and their relatives for not completing the tasks," the officials said.
The Russian detectives investigating the case reported an increase in the rate of suicide among teens from similar internet groups between November 2015 and April 2016. The people who killed themselves included two schoolgirls.
In India, numerous suicide cases have been linked to the online game in the last few weeks and it has now been found that quite a few Indians have been searching for it online.
While internet users may have searched for the game just to read more about it, the fact that numerous teens have taken their lives cannot be ignored.
Based on the observations made in the past 12 months, Google trends ranks India third when it comes to searching the game online. Globally, internet users in Kolkata have searched for the game the most.
