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A 17-year-old Mumbai college student, Vignesh Chougule, died by suicide after falling victim to an online task scam. He paid Rs49,000 to fraudsters promising high returns but received nothing. The Andheri GRP filed a case against eight unidentified cyber criminals following his father’s complaint and digital evidence from Vignesh’s phone, revealing severe distress caused by the scam.

Mumbai: In the death by suicide of a 17-year-old college student, the Andheri Government Railway Police (GRP) have filed a case against eight unidentified cyber fraudsters for alleged abetment. The teen was hit by a train at Jogeshwari railway station on January 21. The case was filed based on the father’s complaint and the digital evidence extracted from the boy’s phone.

About The Case

The victim, Vignesh Chougule, a first-year student at Shri Mumbadevi Junior College of Commerce and Science, died after trespassing on the tracks. What initially appeared as an accidental death was revealed to be a suicide driven by an online task scam, according to the police investigation. The GRP first registered an Accidental Death Report after being alerted about a boy being struck by a train.

Vignesh had not returned home by 10 pm, prompting his father to look for him, who was alerted by a friend who received information from an ambulance driver about a boy matching Vignesh’s description. Vignesh’s father, Nilesh Chougule, 46, identified his son at Cooper Hospital. A police officer said, “We investigated various angles like loans or relationships, but found no suicide note. The clue came from his phone activity—he was involved in an online task scam.”

A forensic examination of the phone revealed that on December 30, 2024, Vignesh was contacted on WhatsApp by persons offering part-time work for online Google rating tasks. After completing initial tasks and receiving a small payment, he was added to a Telegram account named ‘Tax Commissioner’. The fraudsters then instructed him to pay Rs49,000 to complete advanced tasks, promising higher returns.

Vignesh paid the amount but received nothing back. Nilesh told the police that this continuous pressure and harassment over the lost money pushed his son into extreme distress. “The investigation revealed the boy was under severe stress due to the money lost in the scam, which led him to take his own life,” a senior officer confirmed.

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