Kota (Raj), December 23
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 at his hostel room, taking the total number of such cases to 15 this year.
The incident was reported in Indira Vihar area under the Jawahar Nagar police station on Friday. Earlier this month, three students died by suicide, renewing a debate over the pressure of studies young people faced when they came to coaching hub Kota to prepare for competitive exams.
The police identified the deceased as Aniket Kumar (18), a resident of Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh (UP). Kumar had passed Class XII and was preparing to crack the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Under Graduate (NEET-UG) for the last three years, the police said.
A suicide note was recovered from his hostel room, which was yet to be examined, Circle Officer (CO), Jawahar Nagar police station area, DSP Amar Singh said.
Aniket’s record was being collected from the coaching institute and hostel, he said, adding that his body was placed in the mortuary for post-mortem after the arrival of his family members.
Another aspirant, Ajay Yadav, who was friends with Aniket, said they both used to talk to each other for about an hour daily. “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 Aniket 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 calls,” Yadav said. The incident came to light on Friday evening. On December 11, suicide by three 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.
