22-Year-Old Man Stabbed To Death By 3 Friends Over The Mobile Game PUBG

A 22-year-old man was allegedly stabbed to death by three of his friends after an argument ensued between them over the mobile game PUBG in Thane City, Maharashtra, India on Monday, Feb. 28.

The victim, identified as Sayeel Jadhav, was reportedly knifed to death between 9:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 28, near the Little Flower School in Vartak Nagar, after he engaged in a heated argument about the online game PUBG (PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds) with his three friends, including the main accused Pranav Koli, Hindustan Times reported.

Following the violent incident, the police questioned locals who said they frequently spotted the four friends hanging out near the local school and saw them, in the last couple of days, regularly drinking alcohol, playing online games, and getting into constant fights with each other.

On Monday, Feb. 28, Jadhav and his friends played PUBG and later went on a drunken binge. After getting visibly inebriated, the friends had gotten into a tussle over the game. During the altercation, in a fit of rage, the two underage boys, allegedly stabbed Jadhav with a sharp weapon in his chest, back, knees, and head, killing him on the spot, the Times Of India reported. The assailants quickly fled the spot.

The officers subsequently recovered Jadhav's body and sent the remains for an autopsy. Following the incident, the officers conducted an investigation into the incident and arrested Koli and the two minor boys on Tuesday, March. 1. A case of murder under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 302 (punishment for murder) was also registered against them.

“I saw the four (friends) fighting when I was passing by. Two of them were barely out of school. I yelled at them and told them to stop fighting. I later came to know about the murder and was shocked,” Roal Saldanha, 33, a local resident, said.

Meanwhile, Bahadur Singh, who works as a security guard in the area, added, “Since the last 4 to 5 days, there were constant fights between the four youngsters, it was mainly over a girl. I too have tried to stop them but they regularly consumed alcohol and indulged in fights in the same area. I am not sure what Monday’s fight was but the four had been at it for a few days.”

PUBG, a China-based gaming app, which has gained popularity amongst youngsters all over the world, has been banned in India since September 2020. The information about whether the four friends played the banned version of the game is currently unclear.