17-yr-old kills self while on video call with girlfriend

MP | Kolkata: In a sensational incident, a 17-year-old youth streamed his suicide live on a social networking app while doing a video chat with his girl friend. 

The victim identified as Suraj Roy (17), was a student of class XII. He hanged himself from the ceiling of his house and showed the way he committed suicide to his girl friend. 

The victim was a student of Padmapukur High School in Baruipur. 

The incident took place in the Salepur village area under Baruipur police station. The incident triggered tension in the area. Police on Thursday morning recovered the body from the house and sent the body for the post-mortem.

The incident occurred on Wednesday night when the victim engaged in a heated altercation with his girl friend through a video call on a social networking app. The family members of the victim, however, lodged a complaint against his girl friend at the local police station. They brought the charges of abatement to suicide against the girl with whom the victim had a relationship for the past few months.

The victim's mother told the police that he called up his girlfriend after having his dinner at around 11 pm on Wednesday. During the phone call, he was found to be shouting. It appeared that they were involved in a verbal duel. 

Following the incident, the victim might have made a video call to his girl friend and streamed his suicide live. The girl told the matter to her elder sister, who in turn reported this to the friends of the victim.

His friends rushed to his house and informed his mother. As he did not open the door despite repeated knocks, locals broke open the door only to find him hanging. After being informed, police reached the spot and recovered the body. 

The body was sent for an autopsy. No suicide note was found inside the room. Police have started a detailed probe into the incident. According to a preliminary investigation, police suspect that he had committed suicide due to depression. The exact cause is yet to be confirmed. The mobile phone of the victim is being examined by the police officers. 

It may be mentioned that in a similar incident, a class XII girl from Sonarpur area in the same district, went live on a social networking site in the similar fashion and committed suicide by hanging from the ceiling fan in June this year. 

A 40-year-old man also committed suicide in the similar manner in Siliguri earlier this month.