Mystery shrouds the death of a 19-year-old boy, whose body was found dangling from the asbestos roof of his rented house near Uma cinema under the jurisdiction of Town police station on Wednesday night.

Police said the body of the victim, identified as Shailendra Kumar, was recovered from the house of one Shahid Hussain. A native of Piprahi village under the jurisdiction of Laukahi police station in Madhubani district, Shailendra was preparing for his engineering entrance exams.

The incident came to the fore when one Ashish Kumar, an Intermediate student, who stays in a room adjacent to Shailendra's, knocked on his door after returning from the local market. He suspected foul play when there was no response.

Ashish immediately informed the house owner, who reported the matter to the police. The police broke down the door to find the hanging body. However, the victim's legs were touching the floor.

"Prime facie, it appears to be a case of suicide. However, no suicide note has been found. The body has been sent for post-mortem and the family members informed," the station house officer (SHO) of Darbhanga Town police station Ajit Kumar Rai said.

He added that the post-mortem report would throw more light on the cause of death. "It would not be prudent to comment at this stage as the post-mortem report is awaited," the SHO said

The police have registered a case of unnatural death and launched a probe.

A source said Shailendra was upset after the owner of the house had asked him to vacate the room. "He was very upset after a quarrel with the house owner," sources said. The owner, however, refuted that he had exerted any pressure on Shailendra, who was staying in the room for the past seven months. He said he had asked Shailendra to vacate as he wanted to demolish the building and construct a new one.