Three loud thuds woke up a Ghaziabad residential society early on Wednesday morning when three sisters - 12, 14 and 16 years - jumped one by one from their ninth floor home allegedly as part of a Korean 'love game' task that they were addicted to.
Sources told NDTV that before dying by suicide, the girls - Vishika (16), Prachi (14), and Pakhi (12) - locked the room from inside. By the time their families broke down the room's door and entered to save the girls, they had already jumped.
Reprimanded by their parents for their gaming habit since the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, such was their addiction to the target-based game that they had also kept Korean names. Thick as thieves, the sisters did everything together, such as bathing, eating, sleeping, and all their daily activities.
An eight-page note recovered from the residence had a crying emoji. They said they cannot leave Korea and he cannot make them leave the game. "Is diary me jo kuch bhi likha hai vo sab padh lo quki ye sab sach hai. (Read everything written in this diary because it's the truth). Read now! I'm really sorry. Sorry, Papa," the note read. A writing was also found on their room's wall, stating, "I am very, very alone."
Police said the girls were not academically strong, adding that they had also not gone to school for the past two years owing to the financial condition of the family. They did not have mobile phones and used their father's mobile phone.
Their father Chetan Kumar said he wasn't aware of the game. "Whatever happened is terrible. I hope this never happens to another child. I urge parents to not let their children play video games. I didn't know about this game. Otherwise, I wouldn't have let them play," he said.
The girls' deaths are a reminder of past incidents where several people died while playing games like the Blue Whale Challenge and PUBG.
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