Police in Russia are investigating claims a boy beheaded himself with a chainsaw after losing a computer game.

A criminal case has been opened into incitement to suicide after 15-year-old Pavel Matveev's body was found in the village of Mogochino in Tomsk region.

Reports say the boy went out into his yard this morning and 'switched on a chainsaw and sawed off his own head'.

Police in Russia are investigating claims a boy named as Pavel Matveev (pictured) beheaded himself with a chainsaw after losing a computer game

A criminal case has been opened into incitement to suicide after 15-year-old Pavel Matveev's body was found in the village of Mogochino in Tomsk region

Russian media cited local sources saying that he was addicted to a computer that his single mother had bought for him. It was unclear what 'game' he was playing.

But a female source quoted by Plohie Novosti and Novosti V Tomske news sources saying his death came after playing a computer game.

'This is what killed him,' she was quoted as saying.

He 'spent hours at his computer' and his 'nerves' gave in after a game, she claimed.

State owned Russian television channel NTV reported: 'A teenager from Tomsk region committed suicide after he lost a computer game.'

RIA Novosti news agency said a criminal case was opened into the case.

The local office of the Russian Investigative Committee gave no further details except to confirm a criminal case had been opened into incitement to suicide.

Russia has had a spate of cases where so-called death groups allegedly incite children and teenagers to take their own lives in social media games - but it is not clear that this was involved in this tragedy.

Reports say the boy went out into his yard this morning and 'switched on a chainsaw and sawed off his own head'

Some 'death groups' feature a so-called game called Blue Whale in which they are 'brainwashed' by sick online mentors to complete 50 steps - involving exhaustion and self harm - which culminates in suicide.

Investigative newspaper Novaya Gazeta alleged that of 130 suicides of children in Russia between November 2015 and April 2016 almost all were 'members of one group or other on the internet'.

Major-General Alexey Moshkov, head of anti-computer crime K department in the Russian Interior Ministry, has warned that in 2017 a total of 1,339 online suicide groups were uncovered, with an audience of more than 12,000 users and over 200,000 posts.

He revealed 230 criminal cases had been opened and 19 masterminds - called 'curators' or 'administrators' - were detained.