Sambalpur, Jan. 8: A 20-year-old student killed one of his friends before committing suicide in a rented house at Khaliapali in the Town police station area of Bargarh.

Deba Bhoi, a Plus III second-year student in Bargarh district, committed the crime while his friends were asleep.

Deba stabbed to death his friend Saroj Bhoi, 20, of Kherad under Bhatli block of the district while he was sleeping. He also caused serious injuries to Lal Saheb Rana and Ramachandra Bhoi, both natives of Narangpur village, with a spade handle.

Later, Deba, who also hails from Narangpur, committed suicide by hanging himself from the branch of a tree outside his home. Deba and his victims were staying together. Police said Deba was mentally disturbed.

“The four had cooked their dinner together, but they had not taken the food fully. We suspect that a dispute had taken place among the four last night. A villager had also seen Deba, who committed suicide, running outside the room last night,” said inspector in charge of Bargarh Town police station Arjun Kumar Sahu.

While Ramachandra was a student of Panchayat College in Baragarh town, the other three studied in Kantapalli College in the district.

Lal Saheb and Ramachandra have sustained injuries on their head and have been admitted in Veer Surendra Sai Medical College and Hospital in Burla.

“Both are at a semi-conscious stage. Once they regain their senses, we will interrogate them,” said Baragarh sub-divisional police officer Amarendra Rana.

The police officer said: “Deba Bhoi was a strong and stout youth with a height of nearly 5 feet 7 inches. From our primary investigation, we could only say that Deba took the extreme steps of attacking friends when all of them were asleep.”

“However, after committing the crime and seeing the bloods all around the room, he lost his mental balance and committed suicide. Earlier, he had tried to commit suicide in the room but did not succeed,” he said.

The police came to know about the incident around 4.30am today.

The cops found Saroj, Ramachandra and Lal Saheb lying in the room. They were rushed to Bargarh district headquarters hospital.

However, Saroj was declared brought dead at the hospital.

“Ramachandra and Lal Saheb were immediately shifted to Veer Surendra Sai Hospital,” Sahu said.

However, Chintamani Bhoi, father of Ramchandra who is undergoing treatment, said: “My son had left for his room from our village last night. I came to know about the incident this morning.”