Latur farmer claims daughter died by suicide over NEET-UG paper leak

A 50-year-old farmer from Maharashtra's Latur district has claimed that his 18-year-old daughter died by suicide due to mental stress caused after the cancellation of the NEET-UG examination over alleged paper leak.

Police said they have registered an accidental death report and launched a probe into the farmer's claim.

According to the police, Maithili Ashok Sonwane of Gondegaon village hanged herself from a tree at their farm on the morning of May 16. Her post-mortem and other legal formalities were done, said officials.

Her father Ashok Vitthal Sonwane submitted a statement to the police on Sunday, claiming that Maithili had been under severe mental stress after the NEET-UG examination was cancelled following a paper leak controversy.

Ashok said his daughter was preparing for the entrance exam and dreamt of becoming a doctor.

He said Maithili had told her family members that despite preparing well and performing satisfactorily in the exam, the cancellation had left her disturbed and anxious about her future. She was unable to handle the stress and ended her life, he said in the statement.

The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) was conducted across 551 Indian cities and at 14 overseas centres on May 3 and was cancelled after information regarding alleged malpractice was received on May 7. Nearly 23 lakh candidates had registered for the test.

The re-examination will be conducted on June 21.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)