As government work to tame unrest over the NEET paper leak, two NEET candidates in Maharashtra have died by suicide within a week.
An 18-year-old NEET aspirant from Karad taluka in Satara district died after she allegedly consumed poison while battling depression following her NEET examination result.
The deceased has been identified as 18-year-old Samiksha Deepak Pawar, a resident of Shenoli Station in Karad taluka. She had been receiving treatment at Krishna Hospital in Karad, where she passed away on Monday, July 27.
This comes days later, when 19 year old NEET aspirant from Ahilyanagar committed suicide on 25th July after falling short of the qualifying cutoff in the NEET-UG examination.
Ankita Suresh Sangale, a resident of Jalalpur village in Karjat taluka, left behind a purported suicide note indicating she was under severe distress over her examination results, the police said.
Police stated that Samiksha took the NEET exam last year.
After not passing the exam, she was said to be experiencing intense emotional strain and depression. On July 23, she allegedly consumed rat poison tablets at her residence.
According to media reports, Ankita took the NEET-UG exam on May 3 and was confident about her results.
However, after the exam was cancelled because of a paper leak, she felt intense pressure about sitting for the rescheduled test on June 21, which ultimately led her to make the tragic decision to end her life.
She was just 11 marks short of her category cutoff of 177.
Two days later, as the poison started impacting her health and she experienced intense abdominal pain, Samiksha informed her family about the incident. She was immediately moved to Krishna Hospital on Sunday, but despite receiving medical care, she died the next day.
Two back to back suicides of NEET aspirants highlight the stress among the students about their future.
After former education minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned amid nationwide protests over the NEET paper leak, the Union government introduced the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026 in the Lok Sabha and set up a high-powered expert committee headed by Nandan Nilekani to prevent future examination paper leaks.
Despite the government’s efforts to prevent new exam paper leaks, there is an urgent need for medical counselling, timely intervention, and open discussions about stress linked to competitive exams to stop further suicides among India’s youth.
