12-year-old Kushal Sindhi, a class VI student, allegedly committed suicide at Vigyan Nagar in Kota, the police reported on Thursday, 20 June.
The 12-year-old boy was wearing bangles and a ‘mangal sutra’ at the time of the incident, triggering speculation that he killed himself under the influence of mobile application – TikTok.
Sindhi, a resident of Vigyan Nagar, had gone to sleep in his room at night on Monday, 17 June. But he was found hanging with iron chains around his neck in a bathroom near his room, police said.
His family members immediately took him to a hospital, where the doctors declared him brought dead.
“The initial investigation suggested that the boy might have killed himself accidentally while probably preparing to make video on TikTok,” said SHO Mumindra Singh, adding that the actual reason of death could only be ascertained after receiving the autopsy report.
However, Kota’s ASP Rajesh Mill said, “It was too early to say that a video game or mobile app drove the minor boy to extreme step.”
According to the boy's parents, Sindhi was fond of playing video games and had downloaded TikTok.
The boy’s father said that Sindhi had stayed awakened throughout Monday night and continued to play games on the mobile phone.
The SHO also said that the body was handed over to family members after a post-mortem.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)