Noida: A 16-year-old boy missing since the murder of his mother and sister near Delhi on Monday and hunted by the police was known to play an extremely violent video game that dares players to get away with murder, the police say.
Anjali Agarwal, 42, and her daughter Manikarnika, 11, were found murdered in their apartment in Gaur City in Greater Noida on Tuesday. They had been beaten with a bat and stabbed multiple times, probably with the bloodstained scissors found near their bodies. Ms Agarwal had seven stab wounds on her head and her daughter had five.
Ms Agarwal's son, a Class 10 student, is seen in CCTV footage entering the flat around 8 pm on Monday with his mother and sister. He is next seen leaving alone around 11:30 pm, calm and deep into his mobile phone. He was last traced to the bustling Chandni Chowk area in Delhi. The police found bloodstained clothes of the boy in a bathroom of their home.
Ms Agarwal's husband Soumya Agarwal, a businessman, was away in Surat and his parents, who stay with them, were also out of town when the murders took place. Mr Agarwal has told the police that Rs 2 lakh is missing from the flat.
He says his son is incapable of killing anyone, and has urged him to return home.
"My son cannot kill his mother and sister. I appeal him to come home and he should not be afraid. He should come and tell the truth," Mr Agarwal said.
The police, however, say the teen was addicted to "High School Gangster", a video game that should be as alarming to parents as the Blue Whale Challenge. While the "Blue Whale" challenge is believed to drive people to self-harm and suicide, "High School Gangster" dares players to kill and get away with it. The game was found on other similar electronic devices in the house.
Sources say the boy had been reprimanded by his father for spending too much time on the phone, and it had been taken away.
