RUDRAPUR: A 19-year-old BTech student at GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, who was allegedly grappling with English-language since joining the course, was found hanging in his hostel room on Friday.

Neeraj Kumar, son of a fruit vendor from Darau village in Kichha Tehsil, Udham Singh Nagar district, had recently secured admission to the university’s electrical engineering course through an entrance exam.

He had passed Class 12 from a Hindi-medium school with 76% marks. On Aug 20, he was allotted a room at General Bipin Rawat Hostel, which he shared with two other students.

His friends said that, although he often struggled in English-medium classes, he never openly expressed the depth of his distress. Police officials said that his notebooks contained pages filled with simple English sentences such as “I am going” and “I will eat food,” along with basic spellings, reflecting his persistent efforts to learn the language.

According to his roommates, the three had breakfast together on Friday morning. While the others went to attend an introductory session where students were required to present themselves in English, Neeraj stayed back, saying he would not participate. When his roommates returned around 1 pm, they found the room locked from inside, with newspapers pasted over the windowpanes. They immediately alerted the hostel warden, who called the police. The door was broken open, and Neeraj was found hanging.

DR Verma, circle officer of Pantnagar, said, “A note was recovered from the room in which Neeraj did not hold anyone responsible for his death and sought forgiveness from his family. Preliminary investigation suggests suicide. The exact reasons behind this extreme step are being investigated.”