An 18-year-old student was found hanging at his Dhurwa home, around 12km from the heart of capital Ranchi, on Monday night with police claiming suicide.
Subhanshu Raj, popularly known as Kishu, was a Class XI student of Vivekananda Vidya Mandir. He was discovered hanging from a beam on the asbestos ceiling in one of the rooms of his residence near Montessori grounds around 9pm.
His parents - father Ranjan Prasad works at a private company - were not at home when the incident occurred. They had gone to his maternal aunt's residence in the same locality.
"Around 8pm, one of his friends called him, but he didn't respond. Worried, some of his friends came over to his house and knocked on the door. But Kishu still didn't answer. They informed his parents and neighbours. Around 9pm, the door of the room in which he had locked himself was broken. He was hanging with the help of a plastic rope," a local resident said.
Kishu was rushed to HEC Plant Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.
Dhurwa officer-in-charge (OC) Subodh Kumar Srivastava said a case of unnatural death was registered on Tuesday morning and the body sent for post-mortem at RIMS.
Asked whether any suicide note had been recovered, Srivastava answered in the negative. "We have seized his mobile phone and will check the call details. We are trying to find out whether there is any love angle."
A neighbour said Kishu used to talk on his cellphone for hours. "He was often seen talking on the phone while sitting behind bushes and also at isolated places," he added.
The only child of his parents, Kishu completed his matriculation with first division marks from Bridgeford School, Tupudana, and was studying science in Plus Two at Vivekananda Vidya Mandir.
"He was an average student and had no habit of smoking and consuming liquor," said Abhisekh, a friend.
Principal of Vivekananda Vidya Mandir Brahmanand Dwivedi disagreed. "He was below-average in studies and couldn't pass in physics, chemistry and mathematics exams conducted by the school. His attendance was poor," Dwivedi said.
