Bhubaneswar, July 4: A 22-year-old psychology student of Utkal University committed suicide today by hanging herself from the ceiling fan in her hostel room.

Though Jharana Swain, a second-year postgraduate student, did not hold anybody responsible for her death, friends and family members said she had been under mental stress for quite some time. Police said they were investigating a love angle to the incident.

Sources said the suicide took place between 11.30am and 12pm. Jharana’s roommates said she was going for classes at 10am but changed her mind midway and returned to the hostel. However, when they came back from classes, they found the room at Ramadevi Girls’ Hostel locked from inside.

They intimated the university authorities, who in turn informed the Saheed Nagar police. The cops broke the door and found the girl hanging from the ceiling fan.

The cops took her to Capital Hospital, where doctors declared her brought dead. Her body has been sent for post-mortem.

Though the reason behind her suicide is yet to be ascertained, sources said Jharana had been disturbed even a month ago and was seeing a psychiatrist.

Faculty members of the psychology department, however, said Jharana, who hails from Balugaon of Khurda district, was a “nice girl” and “good at studies”. Her mother, who said she had adopted Jharana from her sister, appeared clueless about why she had committed suicide.

This is the second incident of a university girl committing suicide at the hostel in the past 36 months. In November 2011, Sangita Sarojini, also a second-year psychology student, had ended her life by hanging herself at Kuntala Kumari Hostel of the varsity.

Vice-chancellor of the university P.K. Sahoo said a team had been constituted to probe the incident. “The team will submit a report, which will clarify the circumstances under which she committed suicide,” said Sahoo.