Only a week after arriving at Kota, NEET aspirant hangs self

KOTA: A 17-year-old NEET aspirant allegedly hanged himself in his hostel room here, only a week after he arrived at this coaching hub, police said on Monday. This is the second case of suspected suicide so far this month and the 16th this year by students taking coaching classes here. Pushpendra Singh's body was found hanging from the ceiling fan of his room at Rajiv Gandhi Nagar in the Jawahar Nagar area here on Sunday, the police said. No suicide note was recovered from the room and the reason behind the alleged suicide is yet to be investigated, they added.

According to police, Pushpendra, a Class 11 student and resident of Rajasthan's Jalor district, had come to Kota only a week ago and attended coaching classes only for 3-4 days. He was staying in a hostel room with his cousin Lalu Singh, who was also preparing for NEET-UG. On Sunday noon, Pushpendra sent his cousin out to arrange food. When Lalu returned after around 20 minutes, he found the door bolted from inside, Jawahar Nagar Circle Inspector Vasudev said on Monday. On peeping from the window, he spotted Pushpendra's body hanging from the ceiling fan. On being informed around 12 pm, the police reached the spot and rushed the boy to a hospital, but he was declared brought dead, Vasudev said.

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The police handed over Pushpendra's body to his family members after a post-mortem on Monday morning and lodged a case under Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the CI said. Meanwhile, the deceased's uncle Inder Singh, who reached Kota with his father and other family members, questioned the Kota administration why students here were taking the "extreme step" to end their lives. Pointing fingers at the coaching centre and the hostelling system in Kota, Inder said, "The administration here needs to investigate why the children are committing suicide in the city." "How could a child experience stress from studies or depression only within a week?" he asked, referring to his nephew's case. Inder also claimed that Pushpendra was sharp at studies and scored 85 per cent in the 10th board exams, following which he alone decided to pursue coaching at Kota as his elder brother also studied here for two years. He added that his nephew could not have faced any financial concerns as the family was affluent.

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However, Kota District Collector O.P. Bunker, while speaking to media about the latest case of suspected suicide, said stressful preparation for entrance exams is not the only factor behind suicide by students here but several other factors, including family concerns and homesickness, could trigger such incidents. He added that as the enrollments at coaching institutes shot up this year compared to previous years, the number of suicides could also rise here. In 2022, at least 15 cases of suicide by coaching students were registered in Kota. Last year, at least 15 coaching students died by suicide. More than 2.25 lakh students are estimated to be taking classes in various coaching centres in the city this academic session to crack entrance exams of medical and engineering colleges.