A 21-year-old woman who was allegedly in the advanced stages of finishing the Blue Whale challenge was rescued on Monday.
On an information from the woman's friend on a WhatsApp group, that she was acting abnormally and had not returned home since last night, the police traced her on a road along the beach near Gandhi Thidal early this morning, Director General of Police S K Gautam said.
The WhatsApp group was created by Sub-inspector Keerthi to establish contacts with the residents of the area, the DGP said, adding the rescued woman is a bank employee.
She has injuries on her wrist and a paper was recovered from her on which it was written "ten cuts in three days". For the last few days she had locked herself up inside a room in her house, Gautam said.
The woman has been handed over to her parents and she is being counselled, the officer said.
Police have urged the people to alert them if they came across anyone, particularly youths, with abnormal behaviour. Massive campaigns were also planned to create awareness about the killer challenge, he said.
The DGP presented a commendation certificate and a cash award of Rs 2,000 to the Sub-Inspector who saved the woman. The constable who had accompanied the SI was also awarded.
Chief Minister V Narayanaswamy had yesterday said that the government would bring in a legislation to curb the menace of Blue Whale challenge and would set up monitoring committees to keep a vigil on the situation.
The Blue Whale Challenge, which originated in Russia, starts by asking participants via social media to draw a blue whale on a piece of paper.
The participants are then asked to carve the shape of a whale onto their body. They are given other "challenges" or "tasks" such as watching horror movies alone. These challenges or dares feature the commission of acts harming oneself. The last stage is suicide.
