Two teachers booked for abetment to suicide after award-winning colleague found hanging in school

Lucknow: Barabanki police on Sunday registered a case of abetment to suicide against 2 teachers in connection with the death of Uma Verma (40), an assistant teacher posted at Composite School Udhavapur, after her body was found hanging in the headmaster's room on Jan 17.The FIR was filed on Sunday at Satrikh police station by her husband, Rishi Verma, a teacher and resident of Jalalpur under Kotwali Nagar limits.
In the FIR, he stated that he dropped Uma at her school on Saturday morning before leaving for his own workplace. Around noon, he received information that her body was found hanging by a rope inside the headmaster's room.Rishi Verma alleged that when he reached the school, certain papers from his wife's purse and other evidence from the room were removed. He further stated that Uma Verma was known for teaching through innovative methods in her class, and that several of her students received state and national-level awards.According to the complaint, on Nov 11, 2025, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath honoured Uma Verma and 1 of her award-winning students during a visit to Fatehpur. The husband alleged that following this recognition, the school headmistress, identified as Siyawati, and another assistant teacher, identified as Sushil Verma, began harbouring resentment and repeatedly made comments targeting her, which he said pushed her into depression.Uma Verma posted a message as her mobile status around the time of the incident. In the message, she wrote that she no longer wanted to remain in such a school, that despite working she only received pain, and that she was being humiliated constantly beyond what she could endure. The final line, as cited in the complaint, read: "God, please make me strong."Circle Officer (Sadar) Saurabh Srivastava said the post-mortem report confirmed the death by hanging. He added that based on the husband's complaint, a case was registered against the two teachers, Sushil Verma and Siyawati, on allegations of continuously harassing her through remarks and thereby driving her to take the extreme step.