After Board Results, Three Student Suicides Spur Police Probes in Karnataka and Maharashtra

Overview

• Hebbal police in Bengaluru opened an unnatural-death case after 17-year-old Tanushree was found dead at home shortly after II PUC results, with officers noting no suicide note and friends saying she feared failing three science subjects.
• Investigators said Tanushree’s hospital alert led to the case filing under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, a routine step that enables an inquest into a sudden or suspicious death.
• In Hubballi, 18-year-old commerce student Shravani Maruti Kale died by suicide after scoring 78 percent, which friends and family said was far below the perfect score she had expected.
• Ambajogai police in Beed, Maharashtra, reported that 17-year-old Poonam Meghraj Dahiphale left a note citing exam stress before her death, and officers said she had been living with her younger brother and grandmother while her father worked in Pune.
• The deaths were reported within days of the Karnataka board announcing strong overall pass rates near 88 percent after lowering the minimum pass mark to 33 percent, a backdrop that may have shaped expectations as police inquiries continue and no statewide response has been reported.