Gaya, Feb. 22: A Buddhist monk’s body was found hanging from a tree near the old block office in Bodhgaya this morning. The identity of the lama could not be ascertained till the filing of this report.

Bodhgaya deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Imteyaz Ahmad told The Telegraph that fresh instructions would be issued to the Buddhist monasteries of various countries in Bodhgaya to ensure that the name and address of all occupant of rooms in their monasteries were properly mentioned in the record books.

The DSP added that prima facie, it appeared that the monk had committed suicide. The police have started investigation to ascertain the reason behind the incident as well as to ascertain identity of the deceased monk.

Bodhgaya police station house officer T.N. Tiwari said the deceased monk could be around 55 years.

The only information that the police could gather is that he was living in room number 111 of Nigma monastery in the Buddhist town. The body of the lama was sent to Anugrah Narayan Medical College and Hospital for post-mortem.

This is, however, not the first time that a monk has committed suicide in the pilgrimage town. Since April 2006, three such incidents have been reported.

An American woman, Ashley Soule Gauray, had committed suicide at Root Institute in April 2006 by taking an overdose of drugs. A case was lodged with the Bodhgaya police station.

In the last week of December 2007, an 84-year-old monk from Bhutan, Gem Lhamo, had set himself on fire on the campus of world heritage Mahabodhi Mahavihara. His body was found in a meditative posture near the Samadhi Sthal on the Mahavihara campus with 90 per cent burn injuries.

The police managed to ascertain his identity with the help of an identity card recovered from his bag.

A Buddhist monk also had committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree on the campus of the Mahavihara. Hr was identified as Vaninta from Tripura, who was studying Pali at Magadh University in Bodhgaya.

A Japanese tourist was also found dead in a hotel last year. The Japanese tourist had died of anaemia.