Alexander said he received a link to the Blue Whale game, on a WhatsApp group (Representational)
Highlights
- The man described the game as a death trap he could not extricate from
- "It is not an app but a link customised for individuals," he said
- His brother noticed changes in his behavior and went to the police
A 22-year-old man rescued from the
Blue Whale suicide challenge in Puducherry said today that it was an "agonizing experience", a death trap that he could not disengage from even though he wanted to.
In the early hours of Tuesday, Alexander was about to carve the notorious Blue Whale motif into his arm with a knife when a police team barged into his home in Karaikal. The final challenge - suicide - was not far at that point.
"It is a virtual death trap. You will go through an agonising experience. Even those who seek adventures will be mentally affected," he warned, explaining that he wanted everyone to know well enough to stay away from the game. He spoke to the media with senior police officer Vamseedhar Reddy by his side.
Alexander said he received a link to the Blue Whale Challenge game two weeks ago, on a WhatsApp group formed by his colleagues at a courier company. He started playing the game when he came to his hometown Neravy on leave. So deep was his addiction that he never returned to Chennai to rejoin work.
"It is not an app or a game to be downloaded. It is just a link customised for individuals playing the game by the Blue Whale admin," he said.
"The tasks given by the admin are to be completed only after 2 am every day. The first few days went into posting personal details and photographs, which were collected by the Blue Whale admin."
A few days ago, Alexander was asked to visit a graveyard at midnight - one of the most well-known dares in the 50-step game. "I went to the Akkaraivattam graveyard around midnight, took a selfie and posted it online. Every day I had to watch horror movies alone, as the idea was to make victims shun fear," he said.
"I avoided talking to people at home and remained confined to my room. It was mentally taxing. Though I wanted to get out of the game, I could not do so," shared Alexander.
Fortunately for him, his brother Ajith noticed his odd behavior and went to the police, aware of the Blue Whale scare. A police team arrived at their home at 4 am, when Alexander was holding a knife to his arm and about to etch the image of a Blue Whale.
He said he is "stable" after several counseling sessions.
There have been a
rash of Blue Whale Challenge cases in India in the past few weeks and
at least five deaths have been linked to it.
The challenge originated in Russia three years ago and has since been blamed for over 100 suicides across the world.