Teenager killed using pistol for TikTok

A teenager was killed after accidentally pressing the trigger of a country-made pistol, while shooting a clip for the social video app TikTok in Shirdi town of Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district, police said Thursday.

Pratik Wadekar (17) and his relatives were posing for a TikTok video with a country-made pistol one of his relatives had brought, police said.

The social video app claims that it has 200 million users in India, of which 120 million are active every month.

Pratik died on the spot during the incident, police added.

While sitting in their hotel room, they decided to shoot a video on mobile phone by posing with a country-made pistol one of Pratik’s relatives had brought, and upload it on the TikTok application.

“The trigger of the pistol was accidentally pressed and the bullet hit Pratik,” said inspector Anil Katke of Shirdi police station.

As he collapsed, others ran out of the room, and when the hotel staff, alerted by the gunshot, tried to stop them, one of them allegedly threatened to open fire and fled, the police officer said.

A case has been registered under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder), police said, adding Sunny Pawar and Nitin Wadekar were arrested while another relative was yet to be traced.