MANGALURU: A class 9 student from a private school in Uppinangady, about 60km from Mangaluru, reportedly had a weird haircut, as part of the 'Free Fire' mobile game task. The incident comes close on the heels of the murder of a 12-year-old boy in Ullal after an alleged spat over now-proscribed online game PUBG.
In this case, however, the moment the boy's parents suspected that something was wrong, they immediately brought the incident to the notice of police.
Kumar CK, sub-inspector, Uppinangady police station, said on Monday night, as soon as the boy's parents, who are daily-wage workers, noticed their son's weird haircut, they started questioning him.
The boy had tonsured the front portion of his head and told them he had done so as part of a task for a game. The next morning, the boy's parents took him to the police station.
A sub-inspector said while interacting with the boy, it came to light that a majority of high school students from a private school, were addicted to Free Fire game.
He told police that he was into gaming with several others, who were mostly his schoolmates.
As he lost a particular level of the game, the participants asked him to flaunt this weird haircut.
Police then interacted with the other boys, and counselled them about the ill-effects of gaming.
They were told to uninstall the game and to use smartphones only for academic purposes.
Police said students have been into gaming ever since the lockdown and classes were shifted to online mode.
"Their parents gave them smartphones to take part in online classes. Instead, they have been using them for online gaming. We have asked the school to immediately conduct a parent-teacher meeting to stop the misuse," said Kumar.