17-year-old JEE aspirant allegedly dies by suicide in Kota
According to Mahaveer Nagar station house officer (SHO), Mahendra Maroo, the student hung himself from the ceiling fan at his paying guest (PG) accommodation
Jaipur: A 17-year-old student preparing for the IIT-Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for admission in undergraduate engineering courses allegedly died by suicide in Rajasthan’s Kota on Saturday, police said.
According to Mahaveer Nagar station house officer (SHO), Mahendra Maroo, the student hung himself from the ceiling fan at his paying guest (PG) accommodation.
Maroo said that the incident came to light when his friends went to call him after he did not come out of his room for hours. As there was no response, his friends informed the PG owner and the police about the matter, following which the police reached the spot and recovered the body by breaking open the door, the SHO said.
The latest incident also took the toll of suicide incidents in the coaching hub eleventh this year. Last year, 27 students preparing for various competitive examinations allegedly died by suicide in the district.
The deceased student has been identified as a native of Bihar. According to the police, the student who was studying at a coaching centre in Kota for about two years had also made a suicide attempt earlier this year.
“He had probably taken a JEE attempt earlier this year. However, the fact is yet to be ascertained”, Maroo said.
The body was sent for an autopsy and his parents were also informed about the incident, said the SHO, adding that no suicide note was recovered from his place.
“We are also probing why the hostel did not install spring-loaded fans as per the district administration’s guidelines,” Maroo said. “An inquiry will be initiated against the PG authority for violation of the guidelines once the police submit a report to the district collector in this regard,” he added.
Amid a surge in suicides among students last year, the district administration on August 18 ordered all hostels and paying guest (PG) accommodations to install spring-loaded fans in rooms “to provide students mental support and security”. However, the guideline is not applicable to apartments.
Kota is the centre of India’s test-prep business, estimated to be worth ₹10,000 crore annually, according to officials in the district administration. Students from around the country arrive here in huge numbers after completing Class X and register in residential test-prep institutes. They also enrol in schools, most of which are largely for purposes of certification.
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