17-year-old JEE aspirant hangs self in Kota, third suicide case in coaching hub this month
Kota (Rajasthan) August 11: A 17-year-old JEE aspirant allegedly hanged himself in his hostel room here, the third case of suspected suicide in last two weeks by students taking classes at this coaching hub, police said on Friday.
Manish Prajapat's body was found hanging from the ceiling fan of his room in the Mahaveer Nagar area here on Thursday evening, they added.
This is the ninteenth case of suspected suicide so far this year by coaching students preparing for competitive examinations here.
A resident of Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh, Prajapat came here around a year ago and was preparing for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) at a coaching institute here.
Earlier this week, Prajapat's father came here to meet him and stayed with him for five days before leaving for home on Thursday afternoon. The boy took the extreme step only a few hours after his father left, an officer at the Jawahar Nagar police station said.
The teen reportedly took dinner at the hostel's mess in the evening and returned to his room at around 7 pm on Thursday. His father, who was on his way to Azamgarh by train, asked the hostel's caretaker to check on his son when did not respond to his repeated calls, the police officer said.
On peeping through the window, the caretaker found Prajapat hanging from the fan using a bed sheet, following which he informed the police, he added.
The police rushed to the spot and recovered the body and placed it in mortuary. The post-mortem was conducted after the arrival of his father who returned Kota midway from home, the officer said.
The deceased's body was handed over to his family members after post-mortem on Friday morning, he added.
DSP Ghanshyam Meena said stress from studies appeared to be the reason behind the alleged suicide by the teen as he was reportedly weak in studies.
Prajapat was scoring poorly in the routine tests by his coaching institute and was also irregular in classes, Meena said.
However, no suicide note has been recovered, the DSP said, adding that the exact reason of the teen's death would be clear only after the receipt of the post-mortem report and further inquiry in the matter.
The growing number of suicides by students taking classes at this coaching hub has once again rang an alarm bell among parents, teachers, hostel owners, and authorities.
In the other two similar incidents this month, 17-year-old Manjot Chabra, a NEET aspirant from Rampur in Uttar Pradesh, and Bhargav Mishra (17), an JEE aspirant from Champaran in Bihar, allegedly died by suicide in their respective hostel rooms in Vigyan Nagar and Mahaveer Nagar on August 3 and 4.
However, Chabra's parents have alleged that their son was killed and lodged a case of murder against six persons, including a minor classmate, hostel manager and the owner.
Last year, at least 15 cases of suicide by coaching students were reported in this coaching hub.
Over 2 lakh students living in over 25,000 paying guest rooms and 3,500 hostels are currently taking coaching for entrance exams in various coaching institutes here.
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NEET student hangs self in Rajasthan's Sikar
Jaipur (PTI): A student preparing for the NEET examination allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in a rented room in Rajasthan's Sikar on Friday, police said.
According to the police, the student allegedly hanged himself from a ceiling fan using his sister's scarf while one sister was attending coaching classes and the other was in the bathroom.
He had appeared in the NEET UG exam 2026, which was cancelled due to paper leak, they said.
Udyog Nagar SHO Rajesh Kumar said that the deceased, identified as Pradeep Meghwal, was a resident of Kanika ki Dhani village in Jhunjhunu's Gudha Gaudji area.
He had been living in a rented room in Sikar's Jaldhari Nagar area with his two sisters while preparing for NEET over the last three years.
His elder sister later found him hanging and informed the landlord and police after bringing him down, officials said.
The SHO said the body was kept at SK Hospital mortuary, and a postmortem had not been conducted.
The student's father, Rajesh Kumar Meghwal, told police that Pradeep's NEET examination had gone well and the family was expecting him to score around 650 marks.
Former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot expressed grief over the incident and linked it to anxiety among students after reports of irregularities and paper leaks in NEET 2026.
Pilot said repeated paper leak incidents and cancellation of examinations were affecting students' mental health and demanded a time-bound investigation and strict action against those responsible.
