Bhubaneswar, Sept. 4: A government schoolteacher in Sonepur district allegedly claimed in social media that he had played the Blue Whale suicide challenge game.

At a time when police have issued advisory for parents and teachers warning them about the suicide challenge game that reportedly forced many teenagers to commit suicide, the incident has drawn flak from various quarters in the district and state as well.

Kashinath Meher, a teacher at Jambhalipali Government School in Sonepur, shared a post on September 2 on his Facebook wall with a picture of a whale carved on his hand. However, Meher later said he did not play the game and told the police that he had posted the message to draw the attention of his friends on the social networking site.

'We interrogated Meher and found that he was not playing the game at all. He admitted that he had posted the message for fun and to draw attention of his friends. We did not find any picture of whale carved on his hand. We allowed him to go after cautioning him,' said Sonepur superintendent of police Prafulla Kumar Patra. Following the police warning, Meher deleted the post.

Though no such incidents have taken place in the state so far, the police have advised the parents to keep a close watch on the behaviour of the their children. The cops have advised the parents to go through the text messages, call logs, Internet search history and communication on various social networking sites to ensure that their children do not get addicted to the game.

Teachers have criticised Meher for being irresponsible. 'The teachers are supposed to guide the students to stay away from playing the game. It doesn't matter whether he had played the game or not, but the way he had posted the message on social media shows his irresponsibility,' said Prakash Sethy, a government teacher in Jajpur district.

Girls commit suicide

Two minor girls allegedly hanged themselves in separate incidents at Dunguripada village in Town police limits in Balangir. A Class IX student of Navajeevan Bidyapitha School was found hanging from the ceiling of her house, while her classmate from the same village was found in a similar manner later in the day. Police recovered the bodies.