Blue Whale Challenge: Is bizarre social media trend the reason behind death of 14-year-old in Mumbai?

The social media and internet keeps shocking everyone with its bizarre challenges that go viral. The latest addition to the list is the Blue Whale Challenge.

The Blue Whale Challenge has begun to drawn attention in India after a tragic incident where a 14 year old boy from Mumbai killed himself.

The Class 9 student jumped off the fifth floor of the building in Sher-e-Punjab area of suburban Andheri at around 5 pm on Saturday, the police said on Monday.

"The teenager's friends were chatting on social media groups about his death being linked to the Blue Whale online suicide challenge game. But, we are yet to examine his mobile phone and social media groups where he was active," a senior police official said.

India Today accessed the exclusive picture which the teenager took just before committing suicide. The photo was taken by the boy sitting on the terrace parapet. In the photo, the boy's legs can be seen, and the photo was captioned, "Soon the only thing you would be left with is a picture of me."

What is Blue Whale Challenge?

The Blue Whale Challenge is a bizarre game in which participant is given a daily task to complete for a period of 50 days. The participating individual has to submit his/her photographs as a proof of completing task to the group of administrators who are overlooking the challenge.

The final task, however, is to commit suicide. The participants are reportedly even asked to carve out shapes on one's skin, self-mutilation and eventually the extreme step.

According to the media reports, the game originated in Russia. The same challenge also exists by the name of: A Silent House, A Sea of Whales, F57 or F-57 and is mostly played on Instagram and Snapchat.