Sumit Panchal (20), a resident of Rohtak in Haryana, whose purported suicide death is the seventh such case in Kota since January this year, was supposed to take the NEET-UG exam next month, the police said.
In yet another purported student suicide in India’s ‘coaching hub‘ Kota city, a 20-year-old NEET aspirant from Haryana, allegedly hung himself from the ceiling fan of his hostel room on late Sunday night. As per the police, this is seventh case of suspected suicide by a NEET or JEE aspirant in Kota this year, and took place at the hostel located in Kunhari area of the city.
The deceased, identified as Sumit Panchal, a resident of Rohtak in Haryana, was found hanging from the ceiling fan in his hostel room in a suspected case of suicide, even as his parents suspect that their son was murdered and demanded a fair probe in his death.
As per the police, Sumit was preparing for NEET and had been attending a coaching institute in Rajasthan’s Kota city for over a year. Sumit’s parents have claimed that he was murdered and have demanded the police to register a case of murder against unidentified persons, and an impartial investigation into the matter, they said.
Body spotted after 9 hours
An officer said the police have ordered the constitution of a medical board to perform the autopsy of the deceased, adding that the 20-year-old had allegedly hanged himself around 9 hours before the hostel staff spotted his body in the room.
“Sumit’s body was found hanging from the ceiling fan of his room at the hostel in Landmark City under the Kunhari police station limits on Sunday night,” said Assistant Sub-Inspector Kaptan who is investigating the case.
Police have registered a case of unnatural death under section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPc) for initial investigation in the matter, however, the parents of the deceased claimed he was murdered, citing the injury on his neck from the rope was too deep to be caused by hanging.
‘Sumit was murdered’, family claims
Sumit’s father, uncle and grandfather who reached Kota on Monday morning to claim the body suspected foul play, alleged his nephew did not commit suicide but was murdered.
“Sumit was good at studies and would always assure us of securing a rank among the top ten. He would not commit suicide,” Sumit’s uncle Surendra Panchal told news agency PTI outside the mortuary.
Panchal claimed that the wound on Sumit’s neck was too deep to have been caused by hanging, while demanding autopsy by a medical board.
Additionally, in gross violation of safety norms, the hostel room did not have an anti-suicide device installed with the ceiling fan, which could have averted the tragedy, he added.
Notably, no suicide was found in Sumit’s room, police said, adding the motive behind the young man taking this extreme step is being ascertained.
7th student suicide in Kota since Jan 2024
Sumit Panchal, whose purported suicide death is the seventh such case in Kota since January this year, was supposed to take the NEET-UG exam next month, the police said.
The Rohtak boy allegedly hanged himself sometime on Sunday noon but the matter came to light only around 9.30 pm when the warden spotted the body and informed the police, they said, adding that a police team rushed to the spot and recovered the body and shifted it to the mortuary of MBS Hospital for postmortem.
Last year, 26 coaching students, the highest ever, had taken the extreme step in this coaching hub.
(With PTI inputs)