Engineering aspirant dies by suicide in Kota, fourth case this year

KOTA: A 16-year-old JEE aspirant allegedly hanged himself at his grandparents' house here, less than 48 hours after an another aspirant from Odisha killed himself in his hostel room, police said on Saturday. This is the fourth case of suicide in the city famous for its coaching centres. Officials said no suicide note was recovered was recovered from the room.

The incident occurred in Jawahar Nagar area on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday. According to police, Manan Jain, a Class 12 student from Indergarh town in Bundi district, had been living with his maternal grandparents' to prepare for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for the past three years. Police received information about the incident around 9.15 am on Saturday and sent the body for a post mortem, Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Jawahar Singh said. The officer said said Manan had studied with his cousin until midnight on Friday. When he did not respond to calls the following morning, his cousin peaked into the room and found him hanging from the iron railing of the room's window.

He said no suicide note was recovered from the room and the reason behind the suicide is yet to be ascertained. Manan's family refused to have a postmortem but chose to donate his eyes before taking possession of the body, the ASI added. Manan, who had been living in Kota for the past three years to prepare for the IIT-JEE was a was brilliant student and was scheduled to appear for the JEE-Main exam on January 22, his maternal uncle Mahaveer Jain said.

Kota suicides

Meanwhile, the body of Abhijeet Giri (18), who also hanged himself on Thursday, was handed over to his family after a postmortem. He was earlier reported as a NEET aspirant, was confirmed to be a JEE aspirant by his elder brother Bipin Giri. On January 16, Abhijeet Giri, hailing from Mayurbhanj district in Odisha, hanged himself to a ceiling fan in his hostel room in Ambedkar colony in Vigyan Nagar area. Bipin said that his brother had scored 93-94 per cent in Class 10 and was a diligent student who was good in studies and attended his coaching classes regularly. He further said that Abhijeet last spoke to him on a call on Wednesday evening and told him that he would return home next month after exam.

The city, a prominent hub for coaching institutes, saw 17 such cases in 2024. On January 8, a 20-year-old JEE aspirant, Abhishek, allegedly died by hanging himself from a ceiling fan in his PG room. He hailed from Madhya Pradesh and was preparing for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) at a coaching institute since May, 2024. On January 7, another JEE aspirant from Haryana, Neeraj, hanged himself from the hook of a ceiling fan at his hostel room.