Chat groups where kids plot how to ‘run away and get a life’

The rescued boy with Shrikant Sonde, senior inspector, Badlapur police station

Moving with his busy parents to a new place where he did not have friends, and the lockdown took a toll on a 13-year-old boy, who, fed up with the situation, ran away from home. What helped him in the process was being part of a private chat group through an app, and discussing his plans with others of around the same age. Fortunately, the Badlapur police rescued him from Goa and the boy, now wised up, says what he did was wrong.

The boy, studying in an international school, is an only child. He learnt about the app from a YouTube video. "Since January 2021 he was active on the app, as part of a closed group named ‘Run away and Get a Life'. But he left it and formed a group on October 25 named ‘Perfect plans' which had 7 members," said a police officer from Badlapur police station.

The boy had asked members of his group on discord to meet him in Goa. Representation pic

On October 31, he told his parents he was leaving the house for a year and would come back. His parents thought he was joking. But after a couple of hours they didn't find him.

The parents checked with his grandmother, people in the neighbourhood, his school friends, but no one had a clue. They then registered a complaint at the Badlapur police station.

Friend gives a clue

"The boy had left with a mobile phone without a SIM card, a laptop and Rs 2,000-Rs 3,000. CCTV footage near his home showed him walking towards the railway station but he didn't board a local. A friend of his told us about a link which he had received from him, it was of a chatting app," said API Sandesh More.

The police found the app, ‘discord' that enables private chat rooms to selected people. They got the location of the boy at Kolhapur.

"When a team was enroute Kolhapur, the boy did a video call to his mother, saying he was alright and she need not worry. We tracked his location to Goa. The local police and crime branch were immediately informed. They took the boy into custody from a Calangute beach hotel on Monday night," added another officer.

The boy was accompanied by a 21-year-old from Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, whom the police let off. The duo planned to go to Bangalore, to meet another member.

The police said that on October 31, the boy had met his Guntur friend at Kalyan. They then travelled to many places including Thane, Sion, Kolhapur and Goa.

The boy had asked members of his group on discord to come to Goa. They planned to pose as orphans and get a certificate from a Goa orphanage. They wanted to go abroad. They wanted to invest in bitcoins and earn money for a year before returning home.

"Though the boys had plans, they didn't have official documents such as a passport to leave the country. They also had little money. The boy from Guntur had brought Rs 10,000, that's all they had," said Senior Inspector Shrikant Sonde.

Minor stopped from running

After the Badlapur boy was rescued, he told the cops a group member, a 17-year-old, was leaving home from Mira-Bhayander on November 5. The Badlapur police immediately informed the family and asked them to get him counselled.

The police said the 13-year-old boy's family shifted from Nashik to Badlapur due to his father's job. His father stayed in Vasai near his job location and visited home on the weekends. The boy's mother runs a pre-school. In Badlapur the boy had no friends. The loneliness increased during the lockdown. During chats he told other members he was lonely and ignored by his family. However, the police said after the boy was reunited with his family, his father quit his job and vowed to look after him.

mid-day spoke to the boy who said he had realised his mistake. "I urge kids of my age not to get manipulated or carried away. They should stay away from such apps. If they know of their friend's intentions to run away or have a suicide pact, they should immediately inform the police about them," he said.

How the app got the boy hooked

The boy told the police how he came upon the app. "In January, I came across a YouTube video which mentioned few apps through which one can join private chatrooms with like-minded people. It allows users to create groups named ‘server'.

"I downloaded the app and found various servers. There was one named ‘Runaway and get a life.' There were many users who shared their experiences of disturbed childhood. Some had bad parents who didn't look after their children. Some faced violence at home. Even I shared my ordeal. There were discussions of many ways to run away from home," he said.

"The impact of the chats and experiences lured me further and unknowingly I got more involved. But I found nobody was actually interested in running away. So I made a separate group inviting 6 others, which led to this," he concluded.