Neet aspirant hangs self in Kota; kin suspect murder

■ Family demand fair probe ■ 7th case of suspected suicide

Kota (Rajasthan), April 29: A 20-year-old NEET aspirant was found hanging from the ceiling fan of his hostel room in this city’s Kunhari area, with his parents suspecting he was murdered, police said on Monday.

This is the seventh case of suspected suicide by a NEET or JEE aspirant in this coaching hub so far this year, according to the police.

The deceased, Sumit Panchal, hailed from Haryana’s Rohtak and had been preparing for NEET at a coaching institute here for over a year, the police said.

His parents have demanded the registration of a murder case against unidentified persons and an impartial

◗ NO SUICIDE note was recovered and the reason behind his extreme step is yet to be ascertained

investigation into the matter.

On demand of the deceased’s parents, a medical board is being constituted to perform the autopsy, said assistant sub-inspector Kaptan who is investigating the case.

The boy had allegedly hanged himself around 9 hours earlier before his body was spotted by the hostel staff, the ASI said.

Panchal’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, they said.

However, his parents suspected Panchal was murdered, citing that the injury on his neck from the rope was too deep to be caused by hanging, the police said.

A case of unnatural death under section174 of the Criminal Procedure Code has been lodged for initial investigation in the matter, they said.

No suicide note was recovered from the youth’s hostel room and the reason behind his extreme step is yet to be ascertained, Arvind Bhardwaj, circle inspector (CI) at Kunhari police station, said on Monday.

Panchal was supposed to take the NEET-UG exam next month, the police said.