Bhubaneswar, Dec. 8: Nayapalli police recovered the body of a 21-year-old girl last night from her hostel room at IRC Village.

The police said the girl, Shibani Ahuja, hailed from Haryana and had committed suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling fan in her hostel room with a dupatta. A love triangle is said to be the reason behind the decision to end her life.

Two youths, who had brought down the body and put the body on the bed, were detained by the police. The inmates of Shibani’s hostel caught them in this act, police sources said.

The body was sent for postmortem after her parents from Haryana reached the city this afternoon.

Shibani, who had come to the city to prepare for her medical entrance test, was also working for a private company at the Saheed Nagar and was staying at a private hostel for women at N-1 area in IRC Village.

A boarder of the hostel on condition of anonymity said Shibani had gone out and returned to hostel around 6pm last evening.

“She looked dejected and locked her room. Later, when a friend came to meet her, she did not open the room. On looking through the window, we saw her hanging from the ceiling fan,” said the girl’s hostel mate, adding that she had been staying at the same hostel for the past few months. The Nayapalli police went to the spot and conducted preliminary verification. They informed the girl’s family in Haryana about her death. Forensic experts have collected fingerprints from the spot. The cops also seized Shibani’s dupatta. However, they said that the girl had not left any suicide note.

The Nayapalli police said that they are probing the reason behind the girl’s suicide. “We have information that the girl committed suicide because of a failed love affair. We are verifying this,” said Anup Kanungo, the inspector in-charge of Nayapalli police station.

A police officer said two youths had been detained in connection with the girl’s death. According to him, they were romantically linked to Shibani. While she was at a park last evening with one of them, the other one came to know and there was a heated exchange. Later, one of them slapped Shibani.

The officer said that shocked by the incident, the girl hanged herself.