'Momo Challenge': CID asks people to contact police after receiving invitation

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



The notice in CID's Twitter handle came in the wake of a growing number of reports about people in receiving an 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.

So far Momo Challenge has claimed two lives in the state. 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.

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

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

"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 in dealing with this lethal game," the IPS 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.