A showcause notice has been issued against a police official for allegedly failing to attach the suicide note allegedly written by a female NEET student in Nagpur, Maharashtra, to the case papers, a senior officer said on Saturday.
“The suicide note was mentioned in the station diary. However, it was not attached to the case papers,” DCP (Zone 2) Nityanand Jha said.
He said that a show-cause notice has been issued against investigating officer Nikhil Tapan of Ambazari police station for this mistake.
Another official said that the suicide note was not mentioned in any documents related to the case. Even DCP Jha was not informed of the existence of the memorandum. However, when the matter was finally revealed, senior police officers conducted an investigation to determine responsibility and submitted a report to the Police Directorate.
A NEET-UG student, Akanksha Chaturvedi (18), allegedly hanged herself in her room in Nagpur on May 20, days after she appeared for the exam on May 3. She hails from Madhya Pradesh.
On an emotional note, Chaturvedi said there was “no guarantee” that she would get a good result in the retest, which was ordered by the National Testing Agency after the test was canceled amid allegations of paper leakage.
The suicide case attracted national attention after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi posted about the incident on social media platform X.
Her family members discovered the suicide note days after her death. As the family members were going through her books and study materials, they found the handwritten note, which was later submitted to the Ambazari police on June 1.
The note says: “Mama, Papa… You were trusting me that I would study and become a doctor. But I don’t have the courage to retake the test. In the first test, I was about to get good marks. But there is no guarantee that I will get good marks again. Sorry, Mama, Papa, I ruined everything for you.”
Her father, Krishna Kumar Chaturvedi, a small farmer who also works as a cook in Nagpur to support the family, had told police that his daughter had returned from the exam feeling optimistic and was expected to score more than 650 marks.
However, family members later noticed a major change in Akanksha’s behavior as she seemed increasingly upset after reports of paper leakage and exam rescheduling.
Statements of her family members have been recorded and further investigation is underway, an official at Ambazari police station said.
He said that all aspects mentioned in the memorandum are being examined.
