Daijiworld Media Network - Jaipur

Jaipur, Jan 26: An 18-year-old coaching student preparing for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) was found dead in Rajasthan’s Kota, once again drawing attention to the pressures faced by students in the coaching hub.

The incident took place on Sunday evening around 8:30 pm in the Udyog Nagar police station area along the Delhi–Mumbai railway line. The deceased has been identified as Sartaj Singh, a resident of Himayun Kheda village in Haryana’s Sirsa district. He had been living in Kota for the past two years to prepare for the engineering entrance exam.

Police said Sartaj was staying at a hostel in Rajiv Gandhi Nagar and was a Class 12 student, with board examinations scheduled for April. His two-year JEE coaching course had recently ended, and he was expected to return home on the night of January 25.

According to family members, Sartaj told them during his last conversation that his train was delayed by nearly three hours and that he was heading to the railway station to check its status. However, the family later claimed that the train was not delayed and that this may have been an excuse to leave the hostel.

Sartaj’s body was sent to the post-mortem room at MBS Hospital. On Monday, his family arrived in Kota, and the post-mortem examination was conducted in their presence before the body was handed over to them.

Sartaj’s father, Kuldeep Singh, is a farmer in Sirsa district, and Sartaj was the only son of the family.

Police officials said a detailed investigation is underway to determine the circumstances leading to the student’s death. No suicide note has been recovered so far, and all possible angles are being examined.