12-year-old commits suicide after being scolded for playing PUBG

CCTV footage scans by police showed the boy walking towards the canal, located about 500 metres from his residence

The body of a 12-year-old boy was recovered from the Bhakra canal near Shutrana on the Nabha-Patiala road on Sunday in what police say is a case of suicide. He had left home on April 20 after being scolded for playing online multiplayer game PUBG.

His father told the police that since the Covid-19 lockdown the boy had started playing PUBG regularly. (AFP)

A Class 7 student in a private school, he lived in Bharat Nagar colony.

Model town police station in-charge Ronnie Singh said the boy was missing since April 20 after he left home at around 4pm.

“His father told the police that since the Covid-19 lockdown the boy had started playing PUBG regularly. On April 20, furious at being scolded by his family members for playing the game for several hours, he left home at 1.30 pm, but was traced by them and brought back,” Singh said.

On the same day, however, after he went out again in the evening his family members registered a missing complaint with the police after they could not find him, Singh said.

When CCTV footage scans by police showed the boy walking towards the canal, located about 500 metres from his residence, a team of divers was called to the spot but he could not be found.

“On Sunday, after receiving information from Shutrana that a child’s body had been recovered the police team and the family members rushed there and identified the body,” Singh said.

Inquest proceedings have been started under Section 174 of the CrPC on the basis of the family’s statements.