The residents of the Government College Hostel at Churchgate said on Wednesday that the 25-year-old man who reportedly committed suicide on Tuesday was under tremendous stress to clear the Union Public Service Commission exams.
Krishna Kothmire, a native of Aurangabad, was found dead in his room on the fifth floor of the hostel by friends who went to check on him after he failed to turn up in the canteen for lunch. One of the friends said that there were cuts on the body.
The Marine Drive police registered an Accidental Death Report and recovered a suicide note, in which Kothmire apologised to his parents and friends for taking the extreme step.
Senior police inspector Shivaji Phadtare of the Marine Drive police station said, “The cuts on the body indicate that he tried to harm himself before taking the extreme step. We are still conducting inquires to find out the reason why he took his own life.”
A resident of the hostel said, “Krishna would always talk about the limited number of seats for UPSC and Maharashtra Public Service Commission aspirants. He was also worried about whether he would be able to clear the exam. We often saw him stay up all night to prepare for the exam.”
A UPSC aspirant said, “Last year, the UPSC had only 780 seats, while 10,000 aspirants had appeared for the examination. Clearing the exam is a huge challenge and it gets extremely demotivating at times.”