Girl takes her life as father struggles to make money for fees

Belagavi (Karnataka): Mehak Sangoli, a second-year BCA student from Belagavi district committed suicide as her family was struggling to pay Rs 40,000 college fees.

She was found hanging by her father, Shakeel Sangoli.

He found Mehak's body inside a toilet in their house in Bidi village of Khanapur Taluk. She was studying in a private college in Haliyal, Kannada district.

Family of five, faced a lot of financial crisis as Shakeel lost his job after the nationwide lockdown was imposed due to COVID-19.

Mehak's mother is a homemaker and her brothers are studying in class 4 and 10.

Recently Shakeel had regained his job as a helper at a grocery shop.

On Wednesday, he came home from work in the afternoon. He thought his daughter was offering namaz but when he returned from work and found his daughter to be missing. As the toilet was locked from inside, he broke it open and found Mehak hanging.

"She was a bright student and wanted to secure a good job to take care of the family. The college has been demanding Rs 40,000 fees after it reopened in November. She was upset as I was struggling to arrange the money. She kept saying that she is a burden on the family," Shakeel said.

Nandgad police have registered a case of unnatural death.

Sub-inspector US Awati said, "The girl took the extreme step after seeing her father struggle to pay her fees. The family had made arrangements to pay Rs 40,000 to the college in instalments."

A family friend of Shakeel said that the lockdown had come as a jolt to the family, which, ultimately made Mehak take an extreme step when she saw her father struggling to make money.

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