Teen gets online task to 'kill someone', goes missing after attacking woman

The boy's link with the online platform came to light after police officials went through his mobile phone on Wednesday.

A 17-year-old schoolboy, studying in class 12 in Uttarakhand's Dehradun, went missing after allegedly attacking a woman with a knife. According to police, by attacking the woman, he was completing a task given to him on an online chatting platform by his chat partner.

Image for representation, (Sourced)

The attack on the woman took place on Monday evening in the Nehru Colony area of Dehradun. The boy has been missing since then. His parents lodged a complaint about him going missing in the Patel Nagar area of the city where the family lives. The boy's link with the online platform came to light after police officials went through his mobile phone on Wednesday during the probe. He had left his phone at home before running away.

Yogendra Singh Rawat, senior superintendent of police, Dehradun said, "The Nehru Colony police, while probing the assault case, checked his mobile phone during which it came out that he was involved in chatting with a stranger on an online chatting platform named Discord where he was given the task of attacking a person."

Rawat said in the chat, the stranger had written, "Task- To kill someone, to suicide or to disappear."

"It is really worrisome that children are falling into such online traps wherein sometimes they often become the target of online bullying, blackmailing and even threatening. Out of fear, these children often do such acts like in this case," said Rawat.

He said the police are constantly trying to find him.

Another police officer, who did not wish to be named, said, "He was last seen near Paonta Sahib in Himachal Pradesh which suggests that he might still be there. Police are trying to find him as soon as possible."

He added, "Meanwhile, the woman who was attacked is undergoing treatment in hospital. She had sustained serious wounds in her neck and torso."

Experts are of the view that such incidents happen due to the growing communication gap between children and their parents.

Mukul Verma, a Dehradun-based psychiatrist, said, "Parents need to monitor the online activities of their children to check what sort of platforms they are accessing. They also need to talk to them more to reduce the communication gap which is pushing them more into mobile phones."