A 17-year-old girl ended her life on Thursday allegedly after a youth she befriended on a social networking site threatened to circulate morphed photos of her.
The police said the girl from Saligramam was a first-year college student. On Thursday, her siblings broke open the door of her bedroom since she was not responding to their calls. They found her unconscious inside, and rushed her to a nearby private hospital, where she was declared brought dead. The Virugambakkam Police registered a case of unnatural death and began investigation.
During the investigation, the victim’s family revealed that she had befriended a youth on a social networking site a few months ago. The family suspected that the youth was responsible for her death since he had earlier threatened to circulate morphed images of the victim on the internet. Though she had informed her family members about the threat, she was still stressed out about it. The police suspect that this led her to take the extreme step. A senior officer said they were analysing her social media account to find out the cause and trace the suspect.
(Assistance for overcoming suicidal thoughts is available on the State’s health helpline 104, Tele-MANAS 14416, and Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050)
