In yet another case of suicide in Kota, a 16-year-old student died by suicide in his hostel room, police said, as stated in a report by PTI.

With this, the total number of cases of suicide by students in Kota rose to 15 this year. Police identified the deceased as Aniket (16), a resident of Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh. The incident that took place in the Talwandi area under the Jawahar Nagar police station of the city came to light on Friday, December 23, they said. The police placed the body in the mortuary for postmortem and began a further investigation.

At least 14 students studying in coaching centres in Kota have died by suicide this year. Of the three students who died by suicide last week, NEET aspirant Ankush Anand (18) and Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) aspirant Ujjwal Kumar (17), both from Bihar, were found hanging from ceiling fans in their rooms at their paying guest (PG) accommodation on December 12, according to police, as per a report by PTI.

The third student, Pranav Verma (17), a NEET aspirant from Madhya Pradesh, allegedly consumed a poisonous substance in his hostel on December 11. However, no student suicide was reported in 2021, when the coaching centres in Kota were shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic and students attended online classes from their homes.

The number of suicides by coaching centre students stood at 18 in 2019 and 20 in 2020. "Two students, despite being friends, are competitors and always in a race. The feeling that everybody is vying for the same seat often isolates students here and the homesickness just adds to it," said a JEE aspirant who did not wish to be named.