NEET aspirant Ankita Sangale allegedly died by suicide after missing category cutoff marks.
Police recovered purported note indicating severe academic stress; investigation remains underway officially.
Her death highlights mounting mental health concerns during the troubled NEET-UG 2026 cycle.
NEET 2026: Maharashtra Aspirant Dies By Suicide After Missing Cutoff
The 19-year-old from Ahilyanagar reportedly scored 166 marks, 11 short of her category cutoff, after appearing for the NEET-UG 2026 retest. Police say a purported suicide note indicates severe stress over her academic performance
Summary
Ankita Suresh Sangale, a 19-year-old medical aspirant, died by suicide at her home in Maharashtra’s Ahilyanagar district on Saturday, July 25, 2026. The Indian Express reported that the teenager fell short of the qualifying cutoff in the NEET-UG examination.
She was a resident of Jalalpur village in Karjat taluka. Investigators recovered a purported suicide note pointing to acute anxiety over her academic scores, according to the police. A team from the Karjat police station sent the body for a post-mortem examination and registered an accidental death report.
"The preliminary investigation and the note left by the student indicate she was under severe stress due to her performance in the NEET-UG exam. We have registered an accidental death report, and further investigation is underway," Inspector Hanuman Gaikwad said.
Sangale was the daughter of a farmer. She is survived by her parents and a brother.
On the afternoon of July 25, her father and brother were visiting the temple town of Pandharpur. Sangale went to her room while her mother was busy with domestic chores.
Her mother discovered her at approximately 4.30 pm after going to check on her. Family members performed her last rites on the night of July 25.
The Retest Toll
Sangale initially took the medical entrance test on May 3.
"Ankita appeared for the NEET-UG examination on May 3 and was confident about her performance. However, following the cancellation over the paper leak, she had to sit for the re-examination on June 21," her uncle Anna Sangle told the media.
The National Testing Agency announced the retest results on July 16.
"She scored 166 marks, falling just short of her category cutoff of 177. She had been feeling extremely tense since then," Sangle said.
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The current examination cycle has extracted a heavy mental toll. As reported earlier by Indian Express in the weeks between the cancellation of NEET-UG 2026 and the nationwide retest on June 21, at least 12 students across India allegedly died by suicide.
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