GHAZIABAD: A 15-year-old boy, a resident of Patel Nagar, has been missing since March 11. The boy’s father has said that his son is an extraordinary player of the online multiplayer game

and he suspects that he was ‘brainwashed’ into leaving home.

The boy was carrying Rs10,000-15,000 in cash with him when he went missing, the boy father said. The missing minor, Abhinav, is a Class X student, and his father, Rajesh Kumar Jayant, teaches at a government school in Delhi. He lodged an FIR for

at

on March 11. “Abhinav left home around 5pm to go to the local market but did not return thereafter. I was at work at the time and my wife and second son were at home watching TV. When I reached home I enquired about Abhinav and soon started to look for him in the area. We did not find him at any of the local eateries that he used to frequent. Later, his scooterette was found abandoned near New Bus Stand,”

SP (city) Shlok Kumar said, “The preliminary investigation has revealed that the boy was chatting with someone on the game PUBG and his last messages said that he would continue the chat using a different screen name. Further investigations are underway.” Jayant added that his son had left home once before as well. Around two and a half years ago, he boarded a train to go to Mumbai to meet cricketer MS Dhoni after watching the movie based on his life. However, he had returned home a day later from Faridabad.

The father has alleged that Ghaziabad police are not helping locate his son. Cops are saying that he had left home before and returned, he would come back this time too, Jayant claimed. “If the police conduct a technical search on his laptop, I am sure they will get a clue of what he was up to,” he added.

The minor is carrying his mother’s mobile phone – Samsung J5 – but the number is now switched off. He had also taken the saved up money that his parents used to give him and his sibling as pocket money.