Patna student shoots himself during WhatsApp video chat with girlfriend

A 19-year-old intermediate student from Patna shot himself in his bedroom while video chatting with his girlfriend on WhatsApp in the early hours of Monday, police said

Police said Akash Kumar alias Bunty , a resident of Saichak, apparently committed suicide after his girlfriend sought time to convince her parents about the couple getting married.

This is the second reported case of a person apparently committing suicide on live video in Bihar, which according to a 2016 Government of India survey, has 10.29 million internet users, the ninth highest among Indian states. In 2015, a Patna-based college student who hung himself from a ceiling fan livestreamed the act on Facebook.

“When we recovered Bunty’s cell phone and checked, we were shocked to discover that he was video chatting with his girlfriend live as he shot himself. His girlfriend also confirmed that they were video chatting and had an argument when Bunty suddenly pulled out a gun and shot himself,” DSP (Phulwarisharif) Ramakant Prasad said.

The couple began their video chat late Sunday and the shot was fired around 3am Monday, the police said.

Police said during their chat Bunty kept insisting the girl give her consent to marry him. When she sought more time, he began threatening that he would end his life. “She tried her best to convince and pacify him but he took the extreme step and ended his life,” the DSP said.

Quoting the girl, an officer investigating the case said when she saw Bunty pulling out a gun, she called up one of Bunty’s close relatives and pleaded with her to prevent him from taking any untoward step. However, before anyone could intervene, Bunty put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger, the officer quoted the girl as saying.

Bunty’s relatives say it was an accident. Sources close to the family said that the girl, at one point of time, succeeded in convincing Bunty to remove the magazine from the pistol but he accidentally pressed the trigger and a bullet remaining in the chamber hit him in the head.

Police have confiscated the pistol and a magazine from the bed in Bunty’s room. Police are investigating where he got the pistol and who its owner was. Police handed over the body to the bereaved parents this evening after an autopsy.