- Three sisters aged 16, 14 and 12 died after jumping from their ninth-floor flat in Ghaziabad on February 4.
- A diary found in their room points to deep attachment to Korean culture and distress at home.
- Experts warn that gaming addiction and blurred identities can intensify emotional isolation in adolescents.
Three sisters in Ghaziabad stepped out onto the ledge of their ninth-floor flat and did not return in the early hours of February 4. Nishika, 16, Prachi, 14, and Pakhi, 12, died after falling from their family’s apartment in a housing society in Sahibabad, a satellite town near Delhi.
Police say the case is being treated as a suicide. What led to it remains under investigation. But early accounts from the family, a diary recovered from the girls’ room and comments from mental health professionals have triggered a wider conversation about online gaming, adolescent identity and the pull of Korean popular culture among young Indians.
A diary, a game and unanswered questions
Their father, Chetan Kumar, told police that the girls had been playing what he described as a Korean “task-based love game” for nearly three years. He claimed they had not attended school during that time and were heavily absorbed in their phones.
Police, however, have said there is no confirmed evidence so far that a specific Korean task-based app was being used. Deputy Commissioner of Police Nimish Patil reportedly said the investigation would focus on verifying whether such an app existed and whether it had any link to the deaths.
The nine-page pocket diary recovered from the girls’ room paints a more personal picture. According to police statements quoted in news reports, the diary contains repeated declarations of love for Korea and resentment at attempts to make them give it up. “We love Korean. Love, love, love,” one entry reads. Another line states: “You tried to make us give up Korean. Korean was our life.”
The diary ends with an apology to their father and a stark sentence: “Death is better for us than your beatings. That is why we are committing suicide… Sorry Papa.”
Police have taken the diary into custody and say all aspects are being examined. The autopsy confirmed the girls died from head injuries sustained in the fall. Their bodies were cremated at Delhi’s Nigam Bodh Ghat on February 4 evening.
A neighbour who witnessed part of the incident told a newspaper that he saw two of the sisters holding each other before they fell. The third appeared to lunge forward, possibly in an attempt to reach them, before she too fell.
When the screen becomes the self
Mental health professionals say the case highlights a growing concern about online immersion among adolescents.
Vandana Prakash, a clinical psychologist at Max Superspeciality Hospital in Vaishali, reportedly said online gaming addiction can pull young people away from school, outdoor activity and social interaction. Isolation, she suggested, can worsen mental health and increase vulnerability.
Forensic psychologist Deepti Puranik reportedly explained that many adolescents begin to identify more with their gaming avatars than with their real-life selves. “Their entire psyche starts moving around their competency in that game rather than in real life,” she said in a news report. When that identity is disrupted, she added, the emotional fallout can be severe.
Shweta Sharma, a Gurgaon-based clinical psychologist, reportedly pointed to emotional gaps at home as another factor. According to her, fascination with Korean pop culture often fills a space where belonging or connection may be missing. Korean dramas and games, she said, frequently revolve around themes of friendship, loyalty and unconditional support. For some teenagers, that can feel more tangible than their immediate surroundings.
She also noted that adolescents do not yet have a fully developed prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for impulse control and decision-making. That, she suggested, may make it harder for them to distinguish between digital fantasy and lived reality.
A wider pattern
On February 4, the same day as the Ghaziabad deaths, a 14-year-old boy in Bhopal allegedly died by suicide, with family members suspecting his addiction to the mobile game Free Fire played a role. Police said he had been reprimanded over excessive gaming.
The incidents have drawn comparisons to the Blue Whale challenge that surfaced in 2017. That online challenge, believed to have originated in Russia, reportedly involved a series of escalating tasks over 50 days, ending in a final act of self-harm. More than 130 deaths were linked to it across Russia and parts of Central Asia, according to past reports.
While no such direct link has been established in the Ghaziabad case, the pattern of task-based games influencing vulnerable adolescents remains a concern among law enforcement and psychologists.
There are also signs that other pressures may have been at play. An office-bearer of the residents’ body, speaking anonymously, claimed the family had been under financial strain after alleged stock market losses amounting to more than ₹2 crore. Police have said they are looking into the family’s financial situation as part of the broader probe.
For now, investigators say they are treating the deaths as a suicide case, with the central question being whether online influence contributed in any direct way.
Experts stress that regulating phone use through open conversations, rather than abrupt bans, may be one step towards prevention. Transparent dialogue within families, they suggest, is often more effective than strict restrictions imposed without explanation.
What remains is a scene that has shaken a middle-class housing society and unsettled many parents. Three girls who reportedly spent much of their time together, who shared interests and space, left behind a diary that blurs devotion, defiance and despair.
The devices they used have been seized for forensic examination. The questions surrounding them are likely to linger far longer.
