A policeman at the suicide spot in Ranchi on Monday. Picture by Hardeep Singh

Ranchi, March 28: A first-year computer science student hanged himself today unable to bear the humiliation and guilt of failing his first semester exams.

Seventeen-year-old Chhatradhari Kumar of Government Polytechnic, Ranchi, was found hanging from the hook of the ceiling of his rented room at Dhumsatoli in Chutia area of the capital. One of his two roommates, Ajit Yadav, discovered the body at 9.30am after breaking open the door, and immediately informed the police.

Chhatradhari, who learnt his results on March 15, had gone to his Badam village home at Hazaribagh district to spend Holi with his family. He returned to the capital yesterday afternoon.

Ajit, who had gone home to Sirka in Ramgarh, returned today, while the third boy, whose name couldn’t be ascertained, was also out.

Though police did not recover any suicide note, a hand-written message pasted on the wall by Chhatradhari requested his friends to convey the news of his death to his father and uncle. He had scribbled their mobile numbers below.

Chutia police station officer-in-charge A.K. Singh said preliminary investigations suggested the student had committed suicide after he failed in his first semester exam, while two of his roommates passed.

He had been too ashamed to tell his family about his failure, and his guilt might have been heightened after getting a cash gift of Rs 3,000 from his fruit-seller father Ramdhani Sao. “The boy appears to have been very frustrated with his result and committed suicide after returning from his Holi vacation,” Singh said.

The policeman added that friends said Chhatradhari was an introvert and deeply attached to his father, who had always supported his education. Sao reached the capital this evening to receive the body for the last rites.

A case of unnatural death has been registered in this connection and the body sent for post-mortem at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences.