Thirteen-year-old Bhoiwada boy was ‘addicted’ to recently banned battle royale game; the police to investigate six of his co-players who are now being blamed by victim’s family
Tirthesh Chetan Khanolkar excelled in studies as well as in cricket, said his family
A 13-year-old boy obsessed with the now-banned mobile game Free Fire hanged himself at his Dadar home, once again bringing to the fore the perils of online games. Tirthesh Khanolkar apparently had been playing the game, which was banned in India a day after his death, with six of his school friends for the past two-three months. The police have roped in cyber experts to examine his phone.
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As per the Bhoiwada police, the death of Tirthesh Chetan Khanolkar has something to do with Free Fire though they have sent his mobile phone to cyber experts for a detailed analysis. They will now record the statements of Tirthesh’s six friends who were playing the game with him.
Free Fire is a royale-style mobile game where 50 players compete against one other in a deathmatch. Cops say the nature of the game makes it addictive and children often fall prey to it. The Centre banned it on February 14 citing security issues.
The boy’s family lives at Shivneri Society on Dadasaheb Falke Marg, Dadar East. His father Chetan said Tirthesh was good at studies as well as cricket. He said Tirthesh ended his life on the evening of February 13 when they had gone to a relative’s place.
At 7.22 pm, the boy called Chetan but he could not take the call as he was riding his bike. Chetan tried his son’s number many times till 7.30 pm, but there was no response. After they reached home, he didn’t open the door despite ringing the doorbell many times. Chetan then peeped through a window to find him hanging from a ceiling fan.
“My child was brilliant in studies and was among the top 25 cricket players in his school. There is no reason other than this Free Fire game for his death. He was playing with six of his classmates for the past 2-3 months. We need justice for our son,”
“The school was shut during lockdown and I bought him a smartphone for his online classes. I often told him to get addicted to the mobile phone. And, suddenly this happened. I appeal to all parents to not allow their kids to play online games. I lost my son because of it,” said the father.
Tirthesh’s father had got a phone for him for his online classes. Representation pic
Chetan told mid-day. He also said Tirthesh was getting too many calls from his friends in the week prior to his death. “When we asked him about the calls, he said they were doing some assignments. We strongly suspect his friends’ roles.”
Why the cops suspect the mobile game
Zone 4 DCP Vijay Patil said, “We didn’t find any other reason for the suicide. On his mobile phone, we found games only. We also checked his browsing history that showed games and cricket.”
DCP Patil said, “We are suspecting the Free Fire game and it was banned in India after a day of the suicide incident. We are taking cyber experts’ help. We will also take help from the people in the gaming industry. The boy had blocked his eye with clothes. That is mysterious to us.”
The officer said there have been instances of kids committing suicide due to Free Fire. “In one incident, a youth who had bought coins to acquire some special things for the game without the knowledge of his parents killed himself. In this case, we found the boy [Tirthesh] did not have access to his parents’ accounts,” said the officer.
DCP Patil said they are also planning to take lectures in school to educate students to not play such games. “Parents also have to regularly check with their kids that in the game what they are doing and they have to check their regular activities.”
Feb 13
Date when Tirthesh Khanolkar hanged himself
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