Police suspect the boy , from Nerul, was upset with parents for imposing restrictions on playing game

A 16-year-old boy from Nerul has gone missing after he left home with a bag of clothes and ₹6,000 in cash on September 16.

The parents of Ayush Chudji, a Class XII student at Tilak College, have told the police that their son was addicted to playing the mobile phone game PUBG (Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds). According to the police, Ayush did not have a cell phone and played the game on his mother’s phone when she came home from work. He also played it at a gaming zone in Kharghar.

“For the past few months, he has been addicted to PUBG. He had scored 82% in Class X, but started bunking classes at college after he began playing the game. His father once hit him when he came home with poor marks,” said Nandakishore Angane, Ayush’s uncle who lives in Dombivli.

An officer with the Nerul police said Ayush could have left home because he was upset with the constant scoldings and restrictions on playing PUBG. The officer said Ayush’s parents, Ashwini and Ashok Chudji, worked at night as security guards, but had to attend a day-long training session on September 16. Before leaving, his parents gave him ₹6,000, which had to be paid at their housing society’s office. Ayush then packed his bag and left home with the cash.

Mr. Angane said Ayush’s college timings were from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m., and his parents thought he was in college when they did not see him on returning home. When there was no sign of him even after 8 p.m, they decided to make enquires with his friends. They then learnt that Ayush had been skipping college for the past few weeks. Mr. Angane said, “A friend who lives in the building told Ashwini and Ashok that Ayush could have gone to meet his PUBG teammate who had come to Pune from Punjab on September 15. The teammate had apparently promised to help Ayush find a job in Pune.”

Ayush’s parents have provided details of his PUBG account to the Cyber Cell. The Nerul police have sought the call detail records of his mother’s cell phone as Ayush used it make calls and then deleted the call logs. The police are trying to trace the numbers of his PUBG teammates.