Thiruvananthapuram: A youth who was unemployed despite making it to a Kerala Public Service Commission (KPSC) rank list committed suicide in Karaikkonam in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday.

Twenty-nine-year-old Anu was found hanging in his bedroom of his home. His suicide note said being out of work was mentally debilitating. “I have not had food for a few days. It is as if the whole body is paining. I am not sure what to do. I have been thinking about it for a few days. I can't laugh and act in front of anyone. All this is due to unemployment. Sorry,” he wrote in his suicide note.

Anu had secured 76th rank in the examination conducted by the KPSC for the job of civil excise officers.

The list had a term of one and it expired in April. But due to COVID-19, the validity of the list was extended to June 20 and 72 persons were appointed from the list before it expired.

Relatives said he would have had a job had the excise rank list not been cancelled.

Anu was worried that he could not get a government job even after studying late at night for days and making it to the rank list, his father said. Anu, who did electrical work, had made it to the PSC police list also, but he could not pass the fitness test.

Youth Congress state president Shafi Parampil, MLA, blamed the government for Anu's death. He said Youth Congress will hold a hunger strike in front of the PSC office.

Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha activists held protests in Alappuzha alleging that the suicide was a result of the state government’s negligence.

Anu's suicide has created a storm on social media too. Congress MLAs V T Balram, K S Sabrinathan and Muslim Youth League leader P K Feroz said the government's negligence took Anu's life.