NOIDA: A 15-year-old boy jumped to death from Lotus Panache in Sector 110 after his parents allegedly took away his cellphone and scolded him for playing a mobile game called Free Fire, which is similar to PUBG Mobile.
The boy, who lived in a different society in the same sector, walked over to Panache on Wednesday night, managed to gain entry and walked to an under-construction tower, from where he jumped.
The 15-year-old lived with his family in Shramik Kunj. Police said he was addicted to Free Fire and would often use his father's phone to play the game stealthily. The teenager had apparently been pulled up by his parents for this, following which he had on earlier occasions left the house and hidden in nearby parks. "But the Class VII student would repeat his act. He would install the game on his father's phone, play it and then uninstall before giving the device back," said a police officer.
At 8pm on Wednesday, his father caught him playing the game. "He snatched the phone from the boy and scolded him. He asked him to study instead. The boy left the house at 9pm," the police officer added. When he did not return, his parents started looking for him.
"They looked for him in nearby parks but failed to trace him," the cop said.
At 7.45am on Thursday, his parents went to the local police chowki to register a missing person's complaint. "Around the same time, police received information that a boy lay dead at Lotus Panache society. The parents then identified the boy," a police officer said. The tower under construction from where the boy is believed to have jumped has 30 floors.
Phase II SHO Sujeet Upadhyay said as he was the youngest child and only son in the family, his parents would pamper him and the boy would get angry when scolded. "He had been scolded by his parents several times for playing the game, but he was addicted to it and would play stealthily. The parents would ask him to study but he would ignore them," he said.
Additional DCP (crime) Elamaran G said the body has been sent for post-mortem. An FSL team was sent to the spot for investigation. "It seems the guards did not spot the boy entering the premises or he somehow went unnoticed in the dark," another officer said.