In Rajasthan's Kota, three male students - a 16-year-old, a 17-year-old, and an 18-year-old - preparing for competitive exams allegedly died by suicide on Monday, 12 December.
One of the students was preparing for an engineering college, while the other two were studying for medical college entrance tests, including NEET.
Kota superintendent of police Keshar Singh Shekhawat said that two of the victims were residents of Bihar and had been living in Kota for the past three years. Both were found hanging from their ceiling fans in their rooms, which were incidentally adjacent.
"They probably committed suicide last night after having dinner. The second boy had even called his sister last night," he added.
The third boy was a resident of Shivpuri in Madhya Pradesh, who allegedly consumed some poisonous substance and died during treatment. He was as "found unconscious in the gallery of the PG and was spotted by another student who had come there to fill water," said Ganga Sahay Sharma, station house officer, Kunadi police station, as reported by Hindustan Times.
No suicide notes have been found yet on any of the victims.
In 2019, the Rajasthan government had constituted a state-level committee tasked with preparing a draft for the legal regulation of coaching centres to reduce stress for the students. However, there is no public information on the draft as of now.
Click here to watch The Quint's investigative documentary on why Kota, one of the country’s biggest coaching hub, witnesses so many cases of suicide.
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