- A 14-year-old boy in Lucknow committed suicide after losing Rs 14 lakh from his father's bank account
- The boy was addicted to mobile gaming for two months before the incident
- The lost money was saved by the father for medical treatment purposes
A 14-year-old boy in Lucknow who committed suicide two days ago was addicted to mobile gaming for the last two months and had lost Rs 14 lakh from his father's bank account, police said on Wednesday, urging parents to keep a close watch on their children's online activities.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Nipun Aggarwal said, "During the investigation, it was found that the boy had lost Rs 14 lakh, which his father had saved for medical treatment. After his father scolded him, he took the extreme step." Aggarwal appealed to parents to monitor the internet use and bank-account access of their minor children and educate them about cyber-related risks.
The Lucknow Police has intensified its ongoing cyber-awareness campaigns in light of the incident.
Additional DCP (South Lucknow) Ralapalli Vasanth Kumar cautioned that though online gaming based on skill is not banned, some games like "BGMI free fire" pose a significant threat to children as those are addictive.
"Some fraudsters befriend kids through in-app chat mechanisms and manipulate them to transfer money," the officer said.
Parents, he stressed, should at least be aware of what kind of online platforms children are using and should keep a close watch and verify the accounts linked to Google playstore and app store.
"Counselling is the best mechanism to tackle such addiction rather than being tough," Kumar added.
Yash, a Class-6 student, hanged himself in the Mohanlalganj area here on Monday.
Mohanlalganj Station House Officer (SHO) D K Singh said the boy had gone to the roof on the pretext of studying after his father told the other family members about losing money from his bank account. His sister subsequently found him hanging.
The family members rushed him to a community health centre, where doctors declared him dead.
The boy's father, Suresh Yadav, said he had only told his son, "Son, you are doing a wrong thing. I am working and earning for you." Yadav found the missing amount when he went to withdraw Rs 20,000 from his account.
Locals have urged the government to impose a complete ban on online gaming to prevent such incidents.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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