West Medinipur, 1 November (H.S.): A 19-year-old student, addicted to the mobile game (Free Fire), committed suicide in Barchahara area of the Sabang block in West Medinipur district on Friday evening. The deceased has been identified as Akash Pal, a student in the vocational department of Ujan Haripad High School in Pingla.
According to the family, Akash had been addicted to online games for the past several months. He played games constantly on his mother's mobile phone and had almost abandoned his studies. A few days ago, his mother had taken a loan, the amount of which was deposited into his bank account on Thursday.
However, when she went to the bank on Friday afternoon to update her passbook, she discovered that approximately ₹180,000 had disappeared from the account. Bank officials informed her that the amount had been deducted through various online gaming apps. Distressed by this, the mother returned home and scolded her son Akash.
On Friday evening, Akash committed suicide by hanging himself in a garden near their home. The family and locals immediately rushed him to Sabang Rural Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.
On information the police from Sabang police station arrived at the scene, and sent the body to Kharagpur Sub-Divisional Hospital for post-mortem.
The police stated that preliminary investigations suggest it a case of suicide, but an investigation has been launched into how such a large sum of money disappeared from the bank account.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Priyanka Pandey
