PUBG love story: Pakistani mom sneaks into India to meet lover, lands in Noida jail

The online game PUBG once again made headlines after a woman gamer from Pakistan and an Indian guy fell in love through the game and vowed to unite in India — a high-stakes adventure that ultimately led to a tragic ending.

Seema Ghulam Haider, 27, recently illegally travelled to India to live with Sachin Meena, 22, after they met through a virtual gaming platform a few years ago.

She and her four small children entered India illegally in May, and they spent more than a month living with Sachin in Greater Noida, a city in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, according to the police.

The pair have been detained for 14 days since Tuesday by a court. The children are with their mother.

Reporters have heard from the pair that they intend to wed and live together, while authorities claim to be conducting a thorough investigation into the incident.

Seema married Ghulam Haider, a resident of Sindh, Pakistan, in 2014. He moved to Saudi Arabia for employment five years after in 2019. Meanwhile, Seema started playing PUBG to pass the time.

"I used to play PUBG for two to three hours a day and I got to know Sachin while playing the game," she told the BBC. The two exchanged phone numbers and began speaking regularly.

Three years into their love, Seema emigrated to India to marry Sachin Meena, accusing her previous husband of abuse. Ghulam Haider refutes the charges, claiming that Seema sold their Pakistani home and fled with their children.

According to the police, Seema and Sachin met in Nepal in March and then returned to their countries. Seema returned to Nepal with her four children in May, selling her husband's house to fund the trip.

Meanwhile, Sachin, a grocery shop owner, rented a room for Seema and her children.

His landlord, Girish Kumar, told the BBC that he never suspected anything illegal as Sachin had provided necessary government documents while renting the house and that his parents too had come to visit the couple.

Last week, the pair allegedly visited with a local attorney for counsel regarding Ms Haider's residency in India, but the attorney apparently told the authorities about them, according to the Times of India newspaper.

A lawyer discovered Seema and her children carrying Pakistani passports, while attempting to get married in India and informed the police when they were living in Rabupura.

Sachin's father was arrested for hosting her without a visa. They seek Indian government assistance for marriage, while Haider's husband demands their return to Pakistan as his wife was "seduced" by PUBG.