The boy, identified as Bhargav Mishra, was found hanging from the ceiling fan of his paying guest room in the Mahaveer Nagar area at approximately 8.30pm on Friday, according to the police.
This incident marks the eighteenth suspected suicide by coaching students preparing for competitive exams in the area this year alone. Hailing from the Champaran district in Bihar, Mishra had arrived in the city in March, this year.
He was a Class 12 student diligently preparing for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) at a coaching institute located there.
The incident transpired sometime around Friday noon, with Mishra allegedly taking his own life in his Mahaveer Nagar-III room. The deputy superintendent of police (DSP), Harshraj Singh, revealed this on Saturday morning.
The situation came to light when Mishra’s parents became increasingly concerned after multiple unanswered phone calls to their son. The paying guest caretaker was summoned to check on Mishra’s well-being, only to find the room bolted from the inside.
Subsequently, the caretaker alerted the police, who reached the scene around 8.30pm. They gained access to the locked room, discovering the young boy hanging from the ceiling fan.
The cause behind this apparent suicide remains undetermined, as no suicide note was discovered within the room. The DSP mentioned that the police are working to acquire more information about the student, including his academic performance records from the coaching institute. This is intended to ascertain his progress and attendance.
The teenager’s body has been placed in the mortuary of the New Medical College Hospital for a post-mortem examination, which will be conducted upon the arrival of his family members.
In a separate incident between Wednesday and Thursday, another 17-year-old, an aspiring NEET student, reportedly committed suicide in Kota by suffocating himself with a plastic bag. This marks the second such incident in the area within this time frame.
In that case, the victim’s parents suspect foul play and have filed a complaint against several individuals, including a fellow student and the hostel owner.
Last year, this coaching hub reported at least 15 instances of student suicides. Currently, over 200,000 students residing in more than 25,000 paying guest rooms and 3,500 hostels are enrolled in coaching institutes within the region, preparing for various entrance exams.
(With inputs from PTI)
