Patna, Feb. 11: A youth, studying engineering in a college in Pune, was found dead today under mysterious circumstances inside a room of a hotel in the state capital.

The deceased, identified as Hari Shankar Mehta, was a second year student of Imperial College of Engineering and Research, police said on the basis of the identity and library cards of the youth. He had checked into the hotel under Kotwali police station on February 9.

This morning, hotel officials raised an alarm when Hari, aged around 22, did not open the door of his room. They got in touch with the front office of the hotel. The officials broke open the door and found his body. They informed the police, who rushed to the hotel.

The police said the youth was dressed like a woman — wearing a pink sari with bangles around her wrists. Though his head was tonsured, the cops found a wig beside the body.

“The police also found a voter identity card which mentions his name as Hariom Kumar. He is the son of one Ashok Prasad Mehta and his family lives in the Ram Nagar area near KP Market in Purnea district. It appears he died of poisoning. But we cannot be certain unless the investigation is over,” Aman Kumar, the station house officer of Kotwali police station, told The Telegraph.