Teenager kills 12-year-old cousin to pay off online gaming debt in Nagaur
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Jaipur: A teenager became so addicted to internet games such as PUBG and Free Fire that he murdered his 12-year-old cousin in Nagaur district of Rajasthan.
The teenager whose identity was withheld by the police had allegedly gone into debt while playing these games online and staged a bogus kidnapping that went horribly wrong. He used his cousin’s phone to demand a ransom of Rs 5 lakh from the victim’s uncle living in Assam.
The police recovered the victim’s body and took the teenager into custody on Monday.
On December 12, the 12-year-old boy Mahesh Sharma (name changed) had gone missing from his home. The boy had his mother’s mobile phone with him. When he didn’t return, the family members lodged a missing person’s report. Mahesh was also addicted to online games.
In the meantime, Mahesh’s uncle who lives in Assam received a message on Instagram demanding Rs 5 lakh ransom to release the boy. The message was sent from Mahesh’s Instagram ID. It claimed that Mahesh was being held hostage in Delhi. The police, however, traced the phone and found that the boy was still in his village.
During the investigation, the police came to know about Mahesh’s cousin Ramesh (name changed) who was also addicted to internet games. He was taken into custody. Ramesh told the police that he went into debt while playing internet games including teen patti and Free Fire. He had borrowed money from his friends and some shopkeepers in the village. He was under pressure to pay off the debt.
Mahesh and Ramesh used to play these games together. Ramesh killed Mahesh and dumped his body near a pond outside the village. He then demanded the ransom.