Cuttack, March 30: The body of a 20-year-old BSc student of Ravenshaw University was found hanging from the ceiling in a private mess here today.

Police suspect the deceased, a student of information technology management committed suicide on Wednesday for faring poorly in one subject in his semester examination. However, his family members suspect foul play.

Police sources said the deceased, Somanath Palauri of Kakatpur, allegedly hanged himself in his room in the mess at Jobra in Malgodown police limits, where he stayed with five roommates for the past two years.

Somanath, a second-year BSc student, had scored only two out of 40 in mathematics in the second semester exams, the results of which were announced in December.

Somanath had scored 10 out of 10 in the subject's internal examination, said an official of Ravenshaw University.

His family members have alleged that Somanath was a good student and could not have committed suicide.

"We suspect he was murdered as he was very happy when he came home this past Saturday," said his father Janardhan.

On the other hand, the cops have recovered a note from the mess purported to have been written by the deceased.

"We suspect Somanath might have committed suicide over poor marks or due to any relationship issue," said a senior officer of Malgodown police station.

The police have sent the body for post-mortem and have registered a case of unnatural death.

The police will also send the a note, purportedly written by Somanath, to handwriting experts to ascertain whether it was actually written by the deceased or not.

"We had taken Somanath to SCB Medical College and Hospital where the doctors declared him dead on arrival," said a room-mate of Somanath.