HYDERABAD: Investigation into Chandini Jain 's murder has unearthed the disastrous and debilitating influence of social media on the young psyche. And this is also accentuated by poor parental supervision. In first week of the month, a class 11 boy organised a threeday event at a popular hotel by networking on social media and managed to rope in 52 minors, which included Chandini. Besides, minors were also served liquor at the hotel. A Silver Oaks School student launched a web page, Indian Diplomatic Summit, and invited members from school and members of various social media groups from across the country. He collected Rs2,500-Rs3,000 from each invitee and booked rooms in hotels. These boys and girls were addicted to Snapchat , Facebook , WhatsApp and other social media groups and their posts hinged on unhealthy content and relationships. During the day, they held sessions on various issues for three days. In the evening, they organised a grand party and hotel authorities served them liquor at the pub, despite them being minors.

“The event was organised at a cost of Rs1.80 lakh and the money was mobilized from 52 members. Teens from Bengaluru and other cities were also part of the congregation. As there was no regulation in hotel rooms, boys and girls often shared rooms. Police sources said, authorities at Chandini's school were aware about the event, but did not put any surveillance machinery in place and many among them were participating in the event. Parents too did not bot her to know about the event,'' an officer with police said.

During the event, Chandini took photographs with boys and uploaded them on various social media platforms. This did not go down well with the accused. Petty issues, including number of likes on uploaded photos or comments, is a big issue for these minors and this triggers animosity. Some minors were not even willing to give their mobile phone to police, fearing they might miss developments on these social media sites.

Joint commissioner of police ( Cyberabad ) Shahnawaz Qasim told reporters that parents should keep tabs on their children and where they were partying. During an interaction with minors, it was found many parents were clueless about the money splurge on an event. “When the school was aware about an event organized by a minor , how can they escape responsibility? Was it recommended for minors? Too much digitisation is affecting their psyche as they are not interacting with people,'' Qasim said.

Officials said once investigation concludes, they would recommend action against pubs and hotels which served liquor to minors and provided lodging facilities without any guardian.

Accused was upset over her partying

The accused was upset on learning about the girl's friendship and partying with others, police said. During investigation, police took about 30 minors, who are friends of the victim, into confidence and checked their mobile phones. Police said the accused after committing the offence took a different route instead of taking the road he used to reach the place along with the victim.

