Rejected by dance reality shows, 9-year-old hangs self

KOLKATA - Parents of nine-year-old Sandeep Mondal used to watch in bemusement when their son used to prance in front of the TV, nursing his dream of appearing in at least one of the numerous dance reality shows. But nothing could have prepared them for the horror of Friday night - when they found him hanging from the ceiling of their home.

Sandeep, a class five student living in Kasba area of West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district, was dejected after failing to qualify for dance shows, police said Saturday.

Since the financial condition of the family was not good, his parents could not send him to a dance school.

“Sandip used to learn dancing on his own by watching TV. In the last couple of months, he appeared in 5-6 auditions of several dance reality shows. However, he was not selected anywhere. He was suffering from depression, as we were told by his neighbours,” officer-in-charge of Kasba police station Goutam Chattopadhyay said.

A senior police officer said Sandip was supposed to appear in another audition Friday, but his parents refused him the money.

An argument followed and they left for their jobs. When his mother returned at around 9 p.m., she found her son hanging from the ceiling.