Three minors – aged 16, 14 and 12 – jumped from a high-rise building in Ghaziabad early on Wednesday, in a shocking incident. The three lived with their father, a forex trader, and their mothers.
While the eldest was born to the trader’s first wife, the younger two were her half sisters, born to the trader’s second wife. The incident took place in the Loni area under Tila Mod Police Limits, ANI news agency reported.
Following the incident, the minors were rushed to a 50-bed hospital, where they were declared dead.
How did the incident happen
Assistant police commissioner Singh said the girls were with their mothers at around 12.30 am on Wednesday, but went inside the puja room and locked it from inside after some time. Following this, they used a chair to access the window in the room and jumped out from the ninth floor one by one.
“The guards and locals on the ground floor woke up hearing the loud noise of girls falling, and even their family members on the ninth floor woke up,” Singh said. Thereafter, the police were informed and their bodies sent for autopsy.
Minors’ game addiction, academic negligence
The deceased sisters were “highly addicted to an online Korean game, which had led them to believe that they were “Korean princesses” rather than Indians.
This fantasy identity is reflected in the diary notes recovered from their home. The minors had been playing the game for nearly two to three years, and spent most of their time together gaming.
The assistant police commissioner further revealed that the minors were “not attentive to their studies”, adding that the eldest aged 16 was still in Class 4. Deputy Commissioner of Police Nimish Patil told PTI news agency that the girls education was irregular and their academic performance was below par.
What was the Korean online ‘love game’
According to police accounts, the three minor girls were addicted to a Korean online interactive “love game”, which had allegedly strongly influenced their thoughts and behaviour.
The game followed a task-based format where players assume characters and complete missions, assistant police commissioner Atul Kumar Singh said. However, the exact app that the girls used to play the games on is yet to be identified, and will be known after a forensic analysis of their mobile phones.
Assistant police commissioner said the girls’ parents had “restricted their mobile phone usage for the past few days, which left them distressed.” “This may have triggered the decision (to take the extreme step),” PTI cited him as saying.
What did the police recover in diary notes
Investigators said the diary notes included an apology, sketches and repeated references to Korean culture and the game’s fictional world, suggesting an intense psychological immersion which started after the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The girls left behind a lot of notes in a diary and stated that they were sorry, and also made a crying caricature,” Singh said. “Their diary left behind has a lot of details about their lifestyle and their obsession with the task-based game,” he added.
A note left behind by the girls read, “Read everything written in this diary, it is all here…” This was followed by a crying sketch and a handwritten apology which said, “Sorry papa, I am really sorry.”
Father says ‘didn’t know online game had tasks’
The minors’ father said he was unaware that the game involved tasks, adding that his daughters repeatedly said they wanted to go to Korea, according to PTI.
“They often said they wanted to go to Korea. I did not know that this game involved such tasks,” he said, adding that this only came to light after the police forensic team examined the girls’ phones. However, he recalled that the eldest had told him she was the ‘boss’ and that her sisters followed her directions.
“If I had known that such tasks existed, I would have stopped it. No father would ever allow his children to be part of it,” he told PTI.
Eyewitness calls the incident ‘sudden’, ‘abnormal’
Arun Kumar, an eyewitness, said he saw the three minors jumping out of the window, calling the incident “sudden” and “abnormal”.
“They were sitting on the balcony glass….. From what I saw, one of them planned to jump, and the others fell while trying to save her,” Kumar said, adding that he called the police and ambulance thereafter.
Discussing suicides can be triggering for some. However, suicides are preventable. A few major suicide prevention helpline numbers in India are 011-23389090 from Sumaitri (Delhi-based) and 044-24640050 from Sneha Foundation (Chennai-based).
