Mohan Kuthar
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru

Updated

Mangaluru, Apr 4: The police have arrested a minor boy in connection to the murder of Akeef (13), who was found dead near KC Road early morning on Sunday April 4.

Akeef almost always used to register victory in PUBG games. He also used to defeat others during the online games. He had got introduced to his neighbour, Dinesh (name changed), during the visits to the mobile store. When Akeef won the online game against him, Dinesh was surprised. He expressed the suspicion with Akeef that someone else was playing the game on his behalf. He also had posed a challenge to the boy to play opposite him when the two sat across and played the game.

Akeef accepted the challenge and began to play together on Saturday evening. But Akeef was defeated in the game. As a result, an argument ensued between the two. Akeef got angry and tossed a small stone at Dinesh. Dinesh got wild at this, and allegedly hit Akeef with a big stone at which Akeef suffered heavy bleeding and collapsed on the spot. Dinesh developed cold feet, took Akeef near a compoiund wall where he covered the boy with banana leaves and cocnuit fronds, before fleeing.

On Sunday morning, the people saw the body of Akeef and alerted the police. The Ullal police have taken Dinesh into custody and began questioning him. They also are collecting CCTV footage from local cameras to find out whether Dinesh was alone during the incident or someone else too was present.

City police commissioner, Shashi Kumar, visited the spot. The commissioner, speaking on the occasion, expressed deep concern about the murders happening relating to mobile games. He asked parents to be very watchful when they hand over mobile phones to children. He noted that PUBG, which is a banned game, continues to be in use and that other versions of the game are used by the children. He recalled that a student had killed himself in the past relating to the game Blue Whale.

Earlier News

Mangaluru: Missing boy found murdered near KC Road, fight over PUBG suspected

A boy who had gone missing was found murdered early morning on Sunday April 4 near KC Road under Ullal police station limits near here.

The deceased has been identified as Akeef (13).

The boy's body was found about 3 km away from his house, with the head smashed with a heavy stone.

Sources said that Akeef had been missing since late evening of Saturday April 3. His worried parents had filed a missing complaint in Ullal police station.

It is suspected that he had a fight with his friends over the PUBG game. The game had been banned by the union government last year, however, as per sources, it was still accessible due to some loopholes.

Mohammed Haneef, resident of Komarangala, Kotekar, said in his complaint that he has five children and Mohammed Akeef was his second son.

"Akeef went out of home at 8.40 pm with a mobile phone used by the family. As he did not return that night, the family members went in search for him but failed to find him. At about 6 am on April 4, my son's body was found lying in the ground behind Falah school at K C Nagar," he stated.

Haneef said that he has information that his son was playing PUBG games with Dinesh (name changed) and other friends. He stated that he contacted his son's friends about this death bit they did not provide any satisfactory reply. He therefore expressed the suspicion that there is the possibility of his son having been murdered by Dinesh and his other friends. Therefore he has requested the police to investigate the case and take legal steps in the case as may be necessary.

Ullal police arrived at the spot and undertook investigation.