Another student dies by suicide in Kota, toll reaches 15 this year

In yet another case of suicide in Rajasthan's Kota city, a 16-year-old coaching student ended his life by hanging himself from a ceiling fan in his hostel room, taking the total number of such cases to 15 this year.

The incident was reported in the Indira Vihar area under the Jawahar Nagar police station on Friday.

Earlier this month three students committed suicide, renewing a debate over the pressure of studies young people face when they come to coaching hub Kota to prepare for competitive exams.

Police identified the deceased as Aniket Kumar (18), a resident of Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh (UP).

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Kumar had passed class 12th and was preparing to crack the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Under Graduate (NEET-UG) for the last three years, police said.

A suicide note was recovered from his hostel room, however, it is yet to be examined, Circle Officer (CO), Jawahar Nagar police station area, DSP Amar Singh said.

Kumar's record is being collected from the coaching institute and hostel, he said, adding that his body was placed in the mortuary for postmortem after the arrival of his family members.

Another aspirant Ajay Yadav, who was friends with Kumar, said they both used to talk to each other for about an hour on a daily basis.

"We spoke on phone at 12 am last night. His mother was also on the conference call and everything was normal," he added, refuting any signs of discomfort or trouble that might have compelled Kumar to take the extreme step.

"Aniket used to take coaching classes regularly, however, he did not attend the class on Friday. He was not even answering the calls ," Yadav said.

The incident came to light on Friday evening.

On December 11, suicide by 3 students within 12 hours rocked the coaching city Kota, prompting the district and coaching authorities to swing into action to take measures to check the same.

Two of the 3 deceased students, identified as Ankush Anand (16), a NEET aspirant and resident of Supaul district in Bihar, Ujjwal Kumar (18), a JEE aspirant, also a resident of Gaya district in Bihar, had hanged themselves from the ceiling fan in their respective rooms in the same PG in Talwandi area under Jawahar Nagar police station.

While the other one, Pranav Verma (17), a NEET aspirant from Shivpuri district in Madhya Pradesh, allegedly died after consuming some poisonous substance in his hostel room in Landmark city under Kunhari police station of the city on the same day.