Ritwik Kumar, 16, allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself from the ceiling fan in his room.

Ritwik, who was to appear for his Class X matriculation examination next year, didn't leave behind any suicide note citing the reason as to why he took such an extreme step. But the family members claimed that the boy was suffering from depression.

Ritwik, son of Uttam Kumar Singh a constable at Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), lived with his family at CRPF Block 'D' quarters. The family members came to know of the incident in the morning when they broke open the door of Ritwik's room.

A relative of Ritwik said: "He was suffering from depression for some time after the death of his mother in 2009. His father married another woman and the boy was not on good terms with his stepmother. To cope with stress and depression, he was on drugs." The relative stated that Ritwik, along with his three sisters, his stepmother and father, was living at CRPF quarters at Rajiv Nagar.

Rajiv Nagar station house officer Mritunjay Kumar Singh said: "The police had lodged a case of unnatural death in this connection. After performing the post-mortem, the body was handed over to family members." The members have donated the victim's eyes to an eye bank. Uttam said: "We have decided to donate the eyes to the eye bank at Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) so that even after his death Ritwik's eyes can be used for others."

On Monday (May 1), 25-year-old Amit Kumar, a student who was preparing for competitive examination and living at Moni Lodge at Ashok Rajpath area committed suicide by hanging from a ceiling fan at his room.

Davendra Kumar, an ASI at Pirbahore police station, said: "The police had recovered a suicide note from the spot. Addressing his mother in the suicide note, Amit stated that he was taking such a drastic step as he had failed to meet his parents' expectations."

Sources said his mother was the lone earning member in the family as his father who was living at Sabehpur Kamal was ill.

On April 26, a third-year information technology (IT) student at NIT-Patna committed suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling fan in her hostel. The victim Shikha Shukla (22) committed suicide as she was not satisfied with her academic performance.

Brinda Singh, a clinical psychologist said: "We have observed that there are three major reasons behind youngsters committing suicide such as examination stress and pressure, love affairs and disturbed family background."

Singh added: "It has been has observed that in today's competitive era, students and youngsters have high expectations in their career, but if they fail to achieve it they fall under depression and take such drastic steps."

Singh claimed that people who are highly emotional and sensitive should be given extra care as go into depression if they fail to meet expectations. "Parents should give extra care to such children and never compare their performance with other students," added Singh.