Stressed over NEET exam cancellation, 20-year-old MBBS aspirant hangs self in UP

BAREILLY: A 20-year-old MBBS aspirant, Hritik Mishra, was found dead at his residence in Lakhimpur Kheri on Thursday, with family attributing his death to stress over cancellation of NEET-UG 2026 examination.The student’s uncle, Anoop Mishra, said that Hritik was in severe mental distress after the examination was cancelled and later rescheduled. “This was his third attempt, and he was confident of clearing it this time... He had prepared a lot better,” he said, adding his nephew was found hanging at home.Refuting the family’s allegations, ASP Vivek Tiwari said, “The student died due to personal reasons. Prima facie, no examination angle has come up so far.”The student’s death also took a political colour on Friday with Congress MPs Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra speaking out on the sensitive matter.In a strongly worded post on social media platform ‘X’, Rahul Gandhi stated: “NEET aspirant Mishra appeared for the third time and broke down after the examination was called off. In Goa, one more NEET aspirant committed suicide. These are not just suicides; this is a murder of the system.”Priyanka wrote: “News of Mishra’s suicide is sad. Corruption in examinations has taken his life.”Meanwhile, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad took out protests against the National Testing Agency. Members of Samajwadi Party held a separate protest.Netizens stated on social media platforms that Hritik had purportedly said “he would not give competitive exams anymore”, with many saying that “suicide is not a solution...”