Five more students commit suicide in Maharashtra

Five more students in Maharashtra have ended their lives, many due to exam stress, taking the toll to 15 across the state in the past 10 days, police said on Monday.

Five more students in Maharashtra have ended their lives, many due to exam stress, taking the toll to 15 across the state in the past 10 days, police said on Monday.

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In the first instance, 16-year-old Vikas Mahadev Lohar of Solankur village in Kolhapur killed himself Sunday by consuming poison owing to examination pressures.

Swati Rameshwar Balgude, a 16-year-old in Chombi-Ambi village in Basmat sub-district of Hingoli, hanged herself in her house Sunday evening.

Sanmesh Santosh Deshprabhu, a 15-year-old boy, hung himself from a fan in his house in Dahanu town of Thane district late Sunday. He was apparently nervous about the preliminary public examinations that started Monday.

Twenty-two-year-old Sonali Laxmanrao Barvekar was the fourth person to have ended her life in the state. She also hanged herself from the ceiling fan in her house in Parbhani town Sunday.

Rakhi Dinkar Pagare, a 20-year-old resident of Satpur village in Nashik, also committed suicide by hanging herself at her home. The motive behind her taking the extreme step is being investigated, a police official said.

Worried by the spate of students ending their lives, Chief Minister Ashok Chavan Sunday night announced a committee headed by the education minister to look into the matter and suggest remedial measures.

The student who have committed suicide earlier are: Mary Jessica Nadar (16, Mumbai), Prajakta K. Kshatriya (21, Nashik), Vineet More (17, Mumbai), Vrushali Kale (18, Pune), Rupali Shinde (14, Thane), Reshma Dhotre (17, Mulund), Dhanashree Patil (19, Nashik), Bhajanpreet Bhullar (20, Mumbai, Powai), Sushant Patil (13, Dadar), Neha Sawant (11, Thane).