Days after student hangs to death, Kota hostel seized for no 'anti-suicide' fans

NEW DELHI: Days after a NEET aspirant from Uttar Pradesh hanged himself to death in his hostel room here, the district administration seized the facility as it lacked 'anti-suicide devices' in ceiling fans, officials said on Saturday.

The 19-year-old student from Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad , who resided in Kanchan Residency in Rajiv Gandhi Nagar under the Jawahar Nagar police station area, allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself to a ceiling fan inside his hostel room on January 23.

The action on the hostel was initiated after it was found violating the guidelines put in place for the safety of students, Kota district collector Dr Ravindra Goswami told in a press release here on Friday evening.

An inquiry was initiated by additional district magistrate court after a student allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in the hostel room last month and on basis of the inquiry report, the ADM court directed to initiate action under CrPC Section 133 and to seize hostel Kanchan Residency in Rajiv Gandhi Nagar, Talwandi Kota, Goswami said.

ADM Brij Mohan Bairwa said the proprietor of the hostel Hisub Soni and caretaker of the hostel Raghunandan Sharma were strictly ordered to comply with the conditions mentioned in the court order. Kanchan Residency has 32 rooms, 10 of them occupied by students while the rest are vacant, Goswami said, adding that the proprietor was directed to shift the 10 students to some other hostel by February 5.

Kota district authorities had ordered hostels to install a spring device on ceiling fans that foils suicide attempts. So far three student suicides have been reported in the coaching hub this year. On January 23, 19-year-old NEET aspirant Mohammed Zaid was found hanging in his hostel room at Rajiv Gandhi Nagar in Kota.

On January 29, 18-year-old Niharika Singh preparing for JEE allegedly hanged herself at her home in Kota. On February 2, a final-year BTech student allegedly committed suicide by hanging in his paying guest room.

Last year, there were 26 suspected suicide cases of coaching students in Kota, the highest for the city, where over 2 lakh students reach from across the country every year for preparation for medical and engineering entrance exams. There are around 4,500 hostels and 40,000 PGs for the coaching students in the city.