The questioning of two Machhiwara college students — who were traced in Rajasthan and brought back to Punjab after their families lodged “missing person” complaints with the Khanna police — has led to startling revelations about their obsession with an online game.The game and the secret tripThe game in question is Free Fire and college students Utkarsh and Varun Kumar from Machhiwara had left home, along with Ludhiana-based migrant labourer Mohit Kumar, without informing their parents as the latter used to scold them for “wasting their time” on online gaming.The trio had together left for Rajasthan to meet their other “friends” who they knew only because of the game.After much investigation, the trio was finally traced by the Khanna police on Tuesday at a hotel near Jaipur. The youths, during police questioning, admitted their addiction to Free Fire, a battleground game, saying that they could do anything to play it.Big shocker for parentsGagandeep Sharma, a cousin of Utkarsh, said the latter was a BCom student at a college in Machhiwara and used to spend hours playing Free Fire every day. Utkarsh’s parents were fed up of his ways and used to repeatedly asked him to stop wasting time on the game, but he refused to listen.He said Utkarsh, Varun, Mohit and many others across the country had formed an online team to play Free Fire together.“The addiction to gaming was affecting their studies. Utkarsh and Varun even failed in their exams. When we contacted the college administration, we were shocked to know that the duo had not appeared in four exams,” said Gagandeep.“When we questioned Utkarsh and Varun, they admitted that although they had gone to college to appear in the examinations, they sat in the college ground and played Free Fire instead as an online tournament was under way and they had to fight for ‘survival’ in the game. Following this development, their parents became more strict and stopped them from playing the game completely,” said Utkarsh’s cousin.Parents’ restriction became ‘hurdle’Unable to bear the restriction, Utkarsh and Varun decided to leave Punjab along with their Ludhiana friend Mohit as they wanted no hurdle in their gaming and wanted to stay alone outside their houses. On August 20, they took a car and left for Rajasthan without informing their parents, Gagandeep said, adding that when the parents failed to find them, missing reports were lodged with the Khanna police.New SIMs for undisturbed gaming“Utkarsh, Varun and Mohit are further connected to many of their online gaming friends from Rajasthan and other states. The trio had decided to meet all these friends in the coming days. At the Rajasthan hotel, they played a tournament in Free Fire as a team and planned more such tournaments with other team members from different parts of the country,” said Utkarsh’s cousin.The youths had switched off their mobile phones and bought new SIM cards so that their families could not disturb them while they played the tournament, Gagandeep said.He said that they had planned to leave home on August 20 but had not planned their return. The trio just had Rs 11,000 with them.Background story: Online game ‘our first priority’: 3 youths flee home, distressed families seek police help in Punjab’s KhannaMeeting online ‘friends’ can endanger lives: PoliceSamrala DSP Pritpal Singh Sandhu, who supervised the operation to trace them, said it was a serious case for the police as the young boys had gone missing after switching off their mobile phones. “When they reached a hotel near Jaipur, their friend from Sikar came to meet them. They played Free Fire together. When our police team traced the exact location and raided the hotel, all were found there. They had further planned to go to Khatu Shyam, then to Haridwar and Kedarnath along with their gamer friends,” added DSP Sandhu.He said interestingly, Utkarsh and Varun had never met Mohit or the person from Sikar earlier. They had been in touch only through Free Fire. “Meeting unknown persons could have endangered the lives of Utkarsh and Varun,” said the DSP.DSP Sandhu said the Mohit’s background was being verified. The police were also in touch with their Rajasthan counterparts to ascertain whether the person from Sikar had any intention of exploiting the Machhiwara students under the guise of an online gaming friendship.