Vikas Kumar

Patna, Dec. 26: A 22-year-old student from Jharkhand was found hanging today inside the room of a lodge in the city’s Langartoli area, but it was not clear whether he killed himself or if foul play was involved.

A resident of Giridih district in the neighbouring state, Vikas Kumar had come to Patna in November to prepare for competitive examinations. He had put up at the lodge in Langartoli under Kadamkuan police station.

“We did not find any suicide note and the door of the room was not locked from inside. A person attempting suicide tries to ensure that the door is locked,” an officer at the Kadamkuan police station said, hinting at a possible sinister motive behind the death.

“Besides, the rope with which his body was hanging was not strong enough to bear the weight of a person for long. Vikas was quite well-built. We have sent his body to PMCH for autopsy,” he added.

According to sources, the other inmates of the lodge, mostly students, were surprised to see Vikas not opening the door of his room till 8am. “They knocked on the door but Vikas did not respond. It was then that the boarders opened the door and found the youth hanging from the ceiling,” the officer said.

The police have learnt that the youth’s father, Vijay Sinha, is a resident of Jamua village in Giridih. “But we are not certain about Vijay’s profession. We also do not have much details about Vikas’s family,” the officer said.

Vikas had come to the city on November 16 and got admitted to Mishra English Study Centre, a tutorial at Bikhna Pahari. He was preparing for competitive examinations for the job of a government clerk.

Akhilesh Mishra, the director of the tutorial, told The Telegraph that he was not sure if Vikas was regular in attending classes. “He got enrolled himself in the G-7 batch that began on October 18. The classes were initially not very regular because of holidays and festivals. The students of the batch were attending classes on a regular basis for a month. But as we don’t have an attendance system, it is difficult to say if Vikas was regular. Besides, there are batches that have about 200 students each,” Mishra said.