Boy in Viral Photos Addicted to PUBG? No, He’s a Cancer Patient

An article on Milaap mentioned that the boy seen in the images had completed four cycles of chemotherapy.

A set of images is being circulated on social media with the false claim that the boy in them became mentally ill because of PUBG addiction.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

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CLAIM

A set of images is being circulated on social media with the claim that the boy seen in the images became mentally ill because of his addiction to the popular mobile battle royale game, PUBG.

The claim along with the images reads: “सावधान, पप्जी_गेम में पागल हो गया , कृपया अपने_बच्चो को मोबाईल पर ऐसे गेम न खेलने दे।” (Translated: Alert, PUBG game drives one mentally ill, please do not let your children play such games on mobile)

(Photo Courtesy: Facebook/ Screengrab)

(Photo Courtesy: Facebook/ Screengrab)

WHAT’S THE TRUTH?

We conducted a Google reverse image search and found an article published by corwdfunding website Milaap.org with the title, ‘My Son Gave Me Life Again After My Accident, Now He's Dying Of Cancer And I'm Helpless’.

The article carries the same images as the ones that are viral. There is no mention of the boy, who is identified as Sujan, being addicted to PUBG. It instead says that he was diagnosed with blood cancer.

The article carries the same images that are viral on social media,(Photo Courtesy: Milaap website/ Screengrab)

The article mentioned that Sujan had completed four cycles of chemotherapy. For him to survive, Sujan requires a bone marrow transplant. In a letter dated 29 October, issued by Bengaluru’s Mazumdar Shaw Medical Center, the estimated cost for the procedure is Rs 20 lakh.

The letter mentions that Sujan requires a bone marrow transplant amounting to Rs 20 lakhs.(Photo Courtesy: Milaap website/ Screengrab)

The viral images have the watermark of ‘2019 milaap.org’ which can also be seen on the images uploaded on Milaap’s website.

The watermark of milaap.org highlighted in red.(Photo Courtesy: Milaap website/ Screengrab)

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