Three students preparing for competitive exams die by suicide within 12 hours

KOTA: Three students preparing for competitive exams in Rajasthan's Kota have allegedly died by suicide in two separate incidents, police said on Monday. Two deceased were from Bihar while one teenager was resident of Madhya Pradesh, they said, adding no suicide notes have been found yet.

The deceased were identified as Ankush Anand (18), a NEET aspirant, and resident of Bihar's Supaul district and Ujjwal Kumar (17), a JEE aspirant from Gaya district. Both Bihar natives were found hanging from ceiling fans in their respective rooms early Monday morning in the same Paying Guest accommodation in Talwandi area under Jawahar Nagar police station, police said.

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While Pranav Verma (17), a NEET aspirant from the MP's Shivpuri district, has allegedly consumed some poisonous substance in his hostel room under Kunhari police station area on late Sunday night, they said. Anand and Kumar had been preparing for their entrance exams in the same coaching institute of the city for around two years, DSP and CO Jawahar Nagar area Amar Singh said. When they did not open door of their rooms till around 11 am on Monday morning, other students inquired and informed the caretaker of the PG, who reported the matter to the police, the CO said.

The police rushed to the PG and broke open the doors of the two rooms, and found the boys hanging from the ceiling fans, the officer said. The duo were likely to have committed suicide either early in the morning or intervening night of Sunday and Monday, however, exact time could be ascertained only after the postmortem, he said.

Initial inquiry revealed that both were irregular in attending their coaching classes for quite a long time and were out of track of the studies and that was likely to have driven them to study stress and to take the extreme step, the senior officer said. However, no suicide notes were recovered from their rooms, he added.

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Ujjwal Kumar's sister has also been taking coaching in Kota and living in girl's hostel in the same area, police said. While Madhya Pradesh's Pranav Verma was found lying unconscious in the gallery of his hostel on late Sunday night at around 12 am, Circle Inspector at Kunhari police station Ganga Sahay Sharma said. The teenager was rushed to a hospital, where he was declared brought dead, he added.

The deceased had been taking coaching for National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate) NEET -- a pre-medical entrance test, for the last two years, police said. The body was handed over to his family members after the postmortem, they said.