Kota/IBNS: Three students preparing for competitive examinations in Rajasthan's Kota allegedly died by suicide on Monday, said reports. The boys were 16, 17 and 18.

Two of them- Ankush and Ujjwal were friends from Bihar and used to live in rooms next to each other.

While one was preparing for entrance to engineering college, the other was studying to crack the medical college entrance tests.

No suicide notes have been found yet.

The third student, Pranav, came to Kota from Madhya Pradesh and was preparing for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate) or NEET -- a pre-medical entrance test.

Kota, the hub of private coaching centres that provide preparatory classes for competitive engineering and medical examinations, has seen an alarming number of deaths by suicide in recent years.

The deaths are mostly reported a result of the extreme pressure on students to perform well and qualify for India's best colleges.

The coaching hubs are known for pushing students over the edge with long class hours, long assignments, and very competitive internal tests which determine whether a student is promoted or demoted among the many "batches".