Sikar in Rajasthan has lost yet another young person who was studying for the country's medical entrance test. Inside a flat in a residential complex on Piprali Road, within the Udyog Nagar police station limits, 22-year-old NEET aspirant Umesh Mali was found hanging. It was members of his own family who discovered him hanging from a ceiling fan and immediately alerted the police. A suicide note was also recovered from the scene, and the case is now being examined on that basis.
Who Umesh Was
According to Udyog Nagar Station House Officer Rajesh Budania, the deceased, Umesh Mali, was the son of Lakshmanram Mali and originally belonged to Kari village in the Nawalgarh area of Jhunjhunu district. He had been living in Sikar with his mother, elder sister and younger brother while he prepared for the exam. His father works as a tiles contractor in Mumbai, and the family had rented a flat in this same residential building on Piprali Road so that Umesh could study there.
Just Six Days Before the Test
This was Umesh's third attempt at NEET this year, and the exam was scheduled for 21 June. In other words, he was only six days away from sitting his most important examination when he took this step. That timing makes the tragedy all the more painful, with the dream collapsing right at the finish line.
How the Day Unfolded
Police say that on Monday morning Umesh had gone to drop his mother off at their village and then returned to Sikar. In the afternoon, when his elder sister and younger brother reached the flat, they found him hanging from the fan in the room. As soon as the report came in, Udyog Nagar police arrived at the spot, took charge of the body and sent it to Shri Kalyan Government Hospital. After the post-mortem was completed there, the body was handed over to the family. The exact reason behind the suicide has not yet become clear, and police are studying both the contents of the note and the surrounding circumstances.
The Second Case in a Month
What makes this deeply worrying is that it is the second instance in roughly a month of a NEET aspirant taking his own life in Sikar. Earlier, on 15 May, a student named Pradeep Mahich, a resident of Gudha, had also hanged himself in the very same Piprali Road area. With both incidents tied to the same locality, fresh questions are being raised about exam pressure in Sikar, a town widely known as a coaching hub. For now, police are preparing to question neighbours and family members.
