A promising medical career and years of tireless sacrifice ended in heartbreaking tragedy this week as a student named Akanksha Chaturvedi, a 20-year-old NEET-UG aspirant from Madhya Pradesh’s Mauganj district, died by suicide.
Akanksha had been preparing for the medical entrance exam in Nagpur and reportedly suffered from severe depression triggered by the recent cancellation of the NEET-UG 2026 examination, which was voided by the National Testing Agency (NTA) following widespread allegations of a paper leak.
The now deceased student’s family discovered a suicide note tucked away in one of her books after returning to their village for her final rites. In the note, a shattered Akanksha expressed hopelessness regarding the upcoming re-examination.
“I had high hopes of scoring good marks in the NEET exam, but now there is no guarantee that I will perform just as well if I have to take the paper again. I’m sorry, Mom and Dad. I’ve ruined everything,” she wrote.
Note left behind by a NEET aspirant who killed herself
“Mom and Dad, you had faith that your daughter would study hard and become a doctor, but I no longer have the courage to take the NEET exam again. I was scoring good marks in my first attempt, but now there is no guarantee… pic.twitter.com/iPX8vg4rJH
— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) June 4, 2026
A Shattered Dream
For Akanksha’s family, the student’s suicide has led to immeasurable personal loss and the destruction of a future they had painstakingly built. Her father, Krishna Kumar Chaturvedi, a farmer who took up work as a cook in Nagpur to support his daughter’s ambition. He described the extreme sacrifices the family made to fuel her medical dream.
“Despite our limited means, we took loans worth lakhs to support her education,” he said. “After the exam on May 3, she was happy and confident of being selected. But the moment news broke about the paper leak and cancellation, she was shattered.”
The family noted that she had been expecting a stellar score of around 650 marks, a figure that would have likely secured her a seat in a government medical college. Instead, the systemic failure and the uncertainty of the re-test, scheduled for June 21, pushed her into a state of deep emotional distress that her parents say they did not initially realise had become life-threatening.
Systemic Failure and National Outrage
Akanksha’s death is part of a growing trend of student suicides linked to the NEET-UG 2026 controversy. Since the cancellation of the May 3 exam, multiple reports of young aspirants taking their own lives have surfaced nationwide, including in the states of Rajasthan, Jharkhand, and Goa.
The systemic irregularities, ranging from alleged paper leaks to logistical lapses, have triggered nationwide protests. Both students and parents are demanding accountability for the mental and financial toll exacted on lakhs of candidates.
Political figures have also begun to weigh in on the crisis. The local leaders have visited the grieving families to offer support and criticise the management of competitive examinations. “We are with the family as they lost their daughter due to system failure,” said a representative during a visit to the Chaturvedi household. He highlighted the mounting pressure on the central government to ensure the integrity of future exams.
Students, however, now wait for the re-test on June 21. The tragedy in Mauganj serves as a sobering reminder of the human cost behind administrative lapses. For Akanksha’s family, the mourning is marked by the crushing burden of debt. Her father stated that the trauma has left them questioning whether their younger son should continue his academic pursuits at all. “It’s better to put him into farming than traumatise him with the failure of the system,” he told reporters.
If you or someone you know is struggling, please reach out for help at 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: Call or text 988 (available 24/7) or Vandrevala Foundation (India): +91 9999666555.
