A 21-year-old NEET aspirant hanged himself on Thursday in his house here in Gangotrinagar locality over the cancellation of the NEET after a paper leak, a family member said.
This was Ritik Mishra’s third NEET attempt and he was highly confident of clearing the exam this time, his father said.
Though no suicide note was recovered from the locked room where he was found hanging, Ritik’s parents and other close family members attributed the paper leak and consequent cancellation of the exam behind the act.
Ritik was from Hasanpur Katauli village under the Isanagar Police Station area and had another family residence in Gangotrinagar of Lakhimpur city.
His father, Anoop Mishra, said Ritik had returned to the city from the village on Wednesday and did not hide the stress and agony he was undergoing over the exam cancellation.
“Ritik was under immense mental stress after the NEET exams were cancelled following reports of a paper leak," he told reporters.
Inspector Rajesh Kumar Singh, Lakhimpur Kotwali Police Station in-charge, told reporters that no suicide note was recovered from the room where Ritik was found hanging. He said his body had been sent for a postmortem to ascertain the exact cause of death.
Another senior police officer said an investigation would be carried out to determine the circumstances leading to the suicide.
Anoop Mishra said, “This was his third attempt and he was extremely confident of clearing the exam this time. The cancellation left him emotionally shattered."
The NEET (UG) 2026 exam for admissions in undergraduate medical courses, held on May 3, was cancelled by the National Testing Agency on Tuesday amid allegations of paper leak.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested five people so far. The cancellation of the entrance exam has left over 22 lakh medical aspirants in uncertainty.
