Exactly a month back, on the morning of November 7, Rahul, a 21-year-old Law student at Aligarh Muslim University, was found hanging in his uncle’s house in the city. The vein in his right wrist was slashed and there was a suicide note addressed to the AMU Registrar, saying: “I cannot concentrate on studies.”

Six days later, Gani Khan, 20, a BSc Geology first-year student, hanged himself in his hostel room at the university. He left no suicide note but his classmates said he was struggling with his studies.

The suicidal run did not stop here. On November 19, a BA second-year student of Abdullah Girls College drank a mosquito repellant late in the night and was found unconscious by her roommates, just in time to save her. Her brother had visited her the same day at the MJ Hostel .

“She is fine now,” is all Naima Gulrez, the Provost of the hostel, said on Tuesday.

And then there was a fourth attempt, three days later, that caused a third death in a fortnight, said Akhil Kumar, the SSP of Aligarh.

Dr Rakesh Rastogi, a senior resident, is said to have committed suicide on November 22. “He left the mess saying he was feeling unwell, went to the hospital and gave the nurse there a filled syringe to inject him with, saying he knew what the medicine was. When the nurse returned after an hour to check on him, she found him dead,” said police officials investigating the case.

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