NEET aspirant hangs himself in Kota, 14th suicide this year; father alleges exam ‘scam’

A 21-year-old student preparing for NEET-UG in Kota allegedly committed suicide On Wednesday night, he hanged himself from the ceiling of a rented room in a house. This is the 14th case of suicide of a student at the Kota coaching centre this year since January, while 26 cases of death by suicide were reported in the city in 2023.

The deceased’s father blamed the alleged NEET-24 exam scam for the extreme step taken by the youth. However, he did not make any accusation in the police report on the matter. No suicide note was found in the room where the student was staying.

The deceased, identified as Parshuram Jatav (21), a resident of Barsana in Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh, last spoke to his father on Wednesday around 1.15 pm and expressed his desire to return home. His father, Khacharmal, requested him to return home. However, the son did not respond to his calls after that.

The incident came to light at around 11pm on Wednesday, when the owner of the house knocked on the door of the young man’s room, after not having noticed him since the evening. The caretaker informed the police, who rushed to the spot, broke the door of the room, recovered the body and deposited it in the morgue of the MBS hospital.

Khacharmal, who works as a bricklayer, arrived in Kota on Thursday morning. While speaking to the media outside the mortuary, he blamed the NEET-UG-24 exam “scam” for the extreme step taken by his son.

He said it was his son’s second attempt at the NEET-24 exam and he had scored 647 marks in the first result, but in the revision results, his marks were reduced to 247 (66%), leaving him depressed, his father told PTI outside the morgue on Thursday.

“He NEET exam agency and rich people, who manipulated the NEET “Parshuram’s son, who had passed the exam, had killed his son,” he said. Khacharmal claimed that his son had excelled in studies and had secured marks that had earned him a scholarship in a coaching institute in Kota. Parshuram had earlier studied in Kota for two years and had returned five-six days ago to prepare for the third attempt of NEET. To that end, he got admission in a coaching institute in Kota, Khacharmal added.

The police are yet to find out the motive behind Parshuram’s suicide. “No suicide note was found in the room and the reason for such an extreme step is yet to be investigated,” said Jawahar Singh, assistant sub-inspector of Jawahar Nagar police station.

The body was handed over to the family members after post-mortem on Thursday noon and police have lodged a case under section 194 of BNS to investigate the matter, said circle inspector at Jawahar Nagar police station Harinarayan Sharma.