NEET aspirant dies by suicide in Rajasthan’s Sikar; family stages dharna seeking compensation

Amid reports of suicides by some NEET 2026 aspirants following the cancellation of the entrance examination, a 23-year-old Dalit student from Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunu district allegedly died by suicide in Sikar town on Friday afternoon.

The deceased, identified as Pradeep Meghwal, a resident of Guda Gaurji village in Jhunjhunu district, had been living in a rented room in Sikar along with his two sisters for the past three years while preparing for the NEET examination.

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This year was reportedly his third consecutive attempt at the exam, in which he was said to have performed well and was expecting around 650 marks out of 720, according to his father and the police.

Police said that Pradeep had spoken to his family over the phone on Friday morning. In the afternoon, while his elder sister was taking a bath and the younger sister had gone to attend coaching classes, he allegedly hanged himself from the ceiling fan in their room.

After coming out of the bathroom, his elder sister found him hanging from the fan with a noose around his neck, police said. She immediately informed the police and sought help from the landlord. Pradeep was rushed to Sri Kalyan Hospital in Sikar, where doctors declared him brought dead.

Since then, Pradeep’s family members and residents of his native village have been staging a dharna outside the hospital mortuary and are refusing to allow the post-mortem examination.

The protesters are demanding a compensation of Rs 2 crore for the family, a government job for one family member, and capital punishment for those responsible for the alleged paper leak in what they described as the country’s most prestigious examination.

Former Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot also expressed concern over reports of suicides by NEET aspirants across the country and condoled the deaths, expressing solidarity with the bereaved families.

Referring to the death of Pradeep and similar incidents reported from Uttar Pradesh and Goa, the Congress leader and AICC general secretary said in a social media post on Friday night that the government had merely completed a formality by ordering a CBI probe.

He further questioned the government’s accountability, stating that no minister had accepted responsibility or resigned over the controversy.

According to reports, a 20-year-old youth, Ritik Mishra from Isanagar in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri district, and a 17-year-old NEET aspirant in South Goa also allegedly died by suicide under similar circumstances.