Bengal businessman gets Momo Challenge invitation, cops warn people after two deaths

KOLKATA/BURDWAN: The West Bengal CID issued a public notice advising people to contact the police or the agency in case they receive invitation to play the Momo Challenge game.

The notice in CID's Twitter handle came in the wake of growing number of reports about people in receiving invitation from unknown numbers to play the lethal game.

Describing the Momo Challenge as "a new killer game on social media", the CID advised parents not to allow their children to play this online game.

"Please make your children/ward aware not to play this game. Any information/activity about this game could be shared with local police or CID West Bengal," the notice said.

Momo Challenge has claimed two lives in the state, so far. Manish Sarki, 18, of Kurseong in Darjeeling district hanged himself on August 20 while Aditi Goyal, 26, also from Kurseong, committed suicide the next day.

On August 21, Jalpaiguri resident Kabita Rai received an invitation to play the game following which she had lodged a police complaint, a police official said. A college student from the same district was detained in connection with the complaint.

Meanwhile, a businessman of East Burdwan district Partha Biswas lodged a police complaint after receiving an invitation to play the Momo game, a Burdwan report



said.

Biswas, a resident of Memari police station area, had received two messages on his phone on Saturday evening inviting him to play the game.

The businessman blocked the number and reported the matter to the district police's cyber cell.

The cyber cell in-charge Additional SP (HQ) Priyabrata Roy, who is in-charge of the cyber cell, said, "Investigations are on in the case. We are also probing if that message came from someone he knows."

Earlier, an IT professional from the city received a similar invitation last Thursday following which she approached to the Kolkata Police Cyber Cell.

Complaints of people receiving such invitations to play the game is rising in the metropolis, a CID official told.

"People receiving such invitations on their WhatsApp number is pouring. We are advising them not to open the link and junk them. The directive will help them dealing with this lethal game," the police officer said.

The state administration has asked educational institutes to keep a tab on the behavioural pattern of students as well as alerted police stations in the districts to deal with this threat.

After last year's after Blue Whale Challenge, the "Momo Challenge", an online game, has made headway in several countries.