A Ph.D. scholar was found hanging in her hostel room in IIT-Madras after the parents of the girl informed her hostel mates to check on her, being unable to reach her on the phone for two days.

The deceased has been identified as 25-year-old Ranjana Kumari, who hailed from Jharkhand. She had been pursuing a doctorate in the Metallurgy and Material Sciences department since 2017. As there was no suicide note left by Ranjana in her room, the reason of her death remains unknown. “We have registered a case over this suicide and launched a probe to know the reason for Ranjana’s suicide. As far we have enquired, no one has said that Ranjana was in distress,” an inquiry officer reported.

A similar case was reported a few months ago when a 23-year-old dual degree programme student from Kerala, Shahul Kornath, was found hanging from the ceiling of his room last September. A suicide note wasn’t found in his case either.