Mainpuri student suicide: UP recommends CBI probe

The Uttar Pradesh government has recommended a CBI probe into the alleged suicide of a 17-year-old student of the Centre-run Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) in Mainpuri, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi said on Thursday night. On September 16, the body of Anushka Pandey, a Class 11 student of JNV, Bhongaon, was found hanging from the ceiling of her hostel room.

A suicide note was recovered from the room in which she had stated that she was taking the extreme step as her roommates publicly humiliated and taunted her over the theft of some snacks, police had said. Pandey's father had lodged an FIR against the school principal, Sushma Sagar, hostel warden, and two students alleging that his daughter was murdered, they had said.

Earlier, the Mainpuri district administration requested the state government to recommend a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the matter after the student's family staged a sit-in at Nagar Palika Parishad on Wednesday to press for the demand. The district administration and police, however, maintain that it is a suicide case.