17-Year-Old UP District Topper Takes Own Life Ahead Of Class 12 Pre-Board Exam

UP: In a shocking incident, a 17 year old student died by suicide hours before his class 12th board examination. As per the reports, body has been sent for postmortem.

Image Credit: ( ANI )

UP: A 17-year-old student who topped his district in the 2023 Class 10 board exam with 97.4 percent marks, died by suicide just hours before he was scheduled to sit for his Class 12 physics pre-board, police said on Monday. 

The death of Raunak Pathak, a resident of Saket Nagar and a student at Brij Kishori Devi Memorial Inter College, has left the community shaken.

Raunak, who had secured an impressive achievement in Class 10, had earned a full fee waiver at his coaching institute.

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As per NDTV, according to his father, Alok Pathak, who works at a private firm, Raunak left home around 6:30 am on Monday but never came back. When he didn’t answer calls, his father and sister, Mini, began searching for him. A few hours later, officials found Raunak’s motorcycle abandoned near the Juhi railway yard, and his body was discovered lying beside the tracks.

Shattered by the loss, his father said, “I never imagined my only son would take such a drastic step. He was so bright.”

GRP inspector Om Narayan Singh confirmed that the body has been sent for a post mortem and that an investigation is underway.

“The cause of the suicide is still unknown. We’re checking his phone and speaking with his friends to understand what might have led to this,” he said.

(Discussions on suicides can be triggering for some. But suicides are preventable. If you are looking for help, some suicide prevention helpline numbers in India are 011-40769002 from Sanjivini (Delhi-based, 10 am - 5.30 pm) and 044-24640050 from Sneha Foundation (Chennai-based, 8 am - 10 pm), ‪+91 9999666555‬ from Vandrevala Foundation (Mumbai-based, 24x7).