Jamshedpur, May 6: A second-year student of National Institute of Technology (NIT), Adityapur, hanged himself to death in his hostel room after he was caught cheating in his semester exam today.

Kartu Chowdhury (21), a resident of Chittagong, Bangladesh, was appearing for his fourth semester mechanical engineering exams, which began on May 3.

He was reportedly using his mobile phone to cheat and was caught red-handed. Soon afterwards he locked himself up in his D-Hostel room (No. 328). Later, in the evening, he was found hanging from the ceiling fan. College authorities rushed him to Tata Main Hospital, but he was declared brought dead.

RIT police station sub-inspector Anand Mishra confirmed it was a case of suicide though no suicide note was found. “We have registered a case and the body will be sent to MGM Medical College for post-mortem,” he said, adding that the student’s family members had been informed.

This was the second case of suicide on the campus in six months. Last year, an MCA student, Satyendra Kumar Singh, had also committed suicide in his hostel room.

Institute director Rajnish Srivastava described the incident as unfortunate. He confirmed that Kartu was found cheating. “His case had been referred to the examination section for necessary action,” the director said.