A 21-year-old female NEET-UG aspirant has died under suspicious circumstances after falling from a house she was living in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore, police said on Friday (June 19, 2026).
According to the police, the incident took place around 11:30 p.m. on Thursday (June 18, 2026) when Avantika Maurya suffered injuries after falling from the third floor of the building in Indore’s Dhakad colony after which her father Banshi Lal Maurya took her to a nearby private hospital. The girl succumbed to her injuries at M.Y. Hospital around 5:20 a.m. on Friday morning.
Indore zone 4 DCP Sunil Kumar Mehta told The Hindu that inquest proceedings have been launched into the girl’s death and the police have initiated a probe.
While Mr. Mehta did not confirm if the girl took her own life, he said that she had died under “suspicious circumstances”.
“We have launched an investigation and are interrogating her family and friends. More details will be known later,” he said.
Avantika, a resident of neighbouring Dhar district, had been living in Indore with her elder sister and preparing for the medical entrance exam, with her family saying that she had undertaken three attempts of NEET-UG and the June 21 re-examination would be her fourth.
As per her family, the girl had been disheartened after the recent question paper leak.
While Mr. Maurya’s phone number remained switched off on Friday evening, Madhya Pradesh Congress president Jitu Patwari held a conversation with him and shared an audio on X.
In the conversation, Mr. Maurya is heard saying that his daughter had been preparing for NEET-UG for three years and had been “depressed” off late.
“The last time she took the exams but it got cancelled and the result did not come. She had stopped talking and eating much for a few days. She would stay alone ,” Mr. Maurya is heard saying, while suspecting that Avantika ended her life.
Mr. Patwari targeted the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the incident and sough Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation.
“The hands of the BJP’s paper mafia are stained with the blood of many innocent children. This is not a death, but a murder committed by the BJP’s corrupt system. Narendra Modi and Dharmendra Pradhan are responsible for this death. Dharmendra Pradhan Must Resign!” Mr. Patwari said.
(If you are in distress or having suicidal tendencies, please reach out to these 24/7 helplines: KIRAN at 1800-599-0019 or Arogya Sahayavani at 104 for help.)
Published – June 20, 2026 01:11 am IST
