A 24-year-old man was found dead under mysterious circumstances at a lodge in Gorea Tola on Friday. The police suspect it to be a case of murder.

The victim, whose identity and whereabouts are unknown, had checked in to the lodge under the jurisdiction of Kotwali police station on Thursday around 7pm with a person aged around 55 years. The latter had identified himself as Ramkripal Singh in the lodge register.

“According to the lodge manager, Kishore Kashyap, the senior among the two visitors made an entry in the register as one Ramkripal Singh, a resident of Sitamarhi. Under the purpose of visit to Patna column, he stated he had to meet a doctor. When asked to produce an identity card, Ramkripal could not,” an officer of Kotwali police station told The Telegraph.

The officer said the duo first asked for two beds, each for Rs 40 a night.

“The beds they asked for are placed in the front hall of the lodge. But they changed their mind after being disturbed by the noise of the television and shifted to a room whose tariff is Rs 300 a night. They did not come out or order anything and were in the room the entire night,” the officer said.

“Around 4.30am, the older man opened the door of the room and came up to the manager, stating that he had to go out to fix an appointment with a doctor. The person did not name any doctor but said he wanted an early morning appointment. The manager, without asking him any question, opened the main door to let him out. Thereafter, the manager went off to sleep and woke up around 9am,” another police officer said.

Since no one came out of the room till 10am, the manager knocked on the door only to find it ajar, he said.

“The manager opened the door and found the younger man lying on the bed with blood oozing out of his nose. The police were apprised of the mater immediately,” the officer said.

City superintendent of police Kim said the body of the victim has been sent for post-mortem. With no clue on the older man, the police would make his sketch and circulate its copies to track him down.

“It is a case of mysterious death and the police are not in a position to say anything right now. A murder cannot be ruled out. The sketch of the older man is being made and the police are on the lookout for him. The post-mortem report will make things clearer,” Kim said.

This is the third incident of guests’ death in city hotels this year. On February 11, the police recovered the body of an engineering student studying in Pune from a hotel under Kotwali police station.

A 45-year-old software engineer-cum-businessman based in Bangalore died under mysterious circumstances on January 19 at the city-based Ruben Hospital after he was shifted from a leading hotel in the city, where he had checked in on January 15.