Bhubaneswar, March 2: A 20-year-old college student allegedly committed suicide by consuming poison yesterday after the girl he loved refused to reciprocate his feelings.

Sushant Kumar Pradhan, who was a student of a college in Nayapalli, used to live with his uncle, Niranjan Bhatta, who works for a private company in Jagmara Colony.

When the members of his uncle’s family saw the boy vomiting yesterday evening they rushed him to hospital where he died.

Sushant was the only child of his parents, who live in Dasapalla of Nayagarh district. Sushant’s parents rushed to Bhubaneswar upon hearing the news. The body was handed over to them following post-mortem.

According to the youth’s uncle, Sushant had taken his lunch on time yesterday. Then he went to his room for an afternoon nap. But when the family members found his room locked from inside late in the afternoon and there was no response to their repeated knocks they broke it open. They found him vomiting. He was rushed to the hospital where he died within minutes.

The uncle said Sushant had been staying with him since his childhood. “I never neglected him. He was treated like my own child. But I found out that he was in love with a girl. His friends told me that the girl rejected him which might have driven him to suicide,” said Bhatta adding that Sushant did not leave behind any suicide note.

The Khandagiri police reached the spot and recorded the statement of Bhatta. They have registered a case of unnatural death. Police said they had been informed that the youth fell sick following poisoning and died in the hospital. “We are waiting for the post-mortem report to ascertain the cause of death,” said a police officer.

In a similar case two days ago, a 22-year-old girl student of a private college in Nayapalli was found dead in her hostel room. The college authorities and the police said that she had committed suicide. Police also had recovered a suicide note from her room. But the girl’s family has lodged a complaint in Nayapalli police station alleging murder. The family members also alleged that the handwriting on the suicide note was not that of the girl.