Thiruvananthapuram/New Delhi: A 17-year-old athlete, Aparna Ramabhadran, died on Thursday and three others - Shilpa, Treesha and Sabitha - are battling for their lives after a mass suicide attempt at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) hostel at Punnamada in Kerala's Alappuzha district, the police said on Thursday.

With preliminary investigations hinting at ragging as the trigger, the Union sports ministry ordered a probe and promised stringent actions against the guilty.

According to police sources, the teenage athletes had attended a wedding a few days back where they consumed alcohol. "On their way back, they picked up some beer bottles, but could not smuggle it into the hostel as they were caught. The seniors teased and taunted them and they felt humiliated,'' sources revealed.

A suicide note, in which they wrote that "small mistakes" committed by them had been blown out of proportion by seniors and signed by the four athletes, was recovered from the hostel, a news agency quoted police sources as saying.

"Even though certain other issues have been mentioned in the note, they cannot be construed as harassment," police said, adding, "this was only a preliminary assumption."

The hostel warden though has dismissed allegations of any abuse.

A Class XII student, Aparna had won a bronze medal in the National Rowing Championship in Cuttack last year. One of the other three girls was a member of the gold-medal winning team at the recently-concluded National Games while the remaining two were kayakers.

The incident has sent shivers down SAI hierarchy and exposed its lack of planning in running sports centres.

A shell-shocked SAI director general, Injeti Srinivas, admitted the system was not fool-proof.

"There are no standard operating procedures to deal with such kind of situations," said the SAI DG in the capital on Tuesday before leaving for Kerala.

"There is no psychologist, mental trainer or harassment cell in the Kerala centre. The incident has come as an eye-opener ... We will get down to the bottom of it," he added.

"Aparna was a rower of substantial talent," said a Rowing Federation of India official. "She and Shilpa were picked up for special training though they did not make the cut for the Junior Asian Championship in China in July," he said.

Though the SAI officials are now talking in unison about punishing the guilty, better management skill on their part could have avoided the tragic incident.

According to SAI insiders, not many were happy when PT Paulose was appointed the coach at the Alappuzha centre. The rowing federation, too, it is believed, made their displeasure clear.

"Now, a lot of local people in Alappuzha and a host of trainees are distressed about the way the girls were treated by the seniors at the training centre. The girls were harassed by some of the seniors, who had represented the country. The coaches present should have handled the matter more carefully," said an official.

The four athletes consumed a poisonous fruit locally known as 'othalanga' (scientific name cerbera odollam) at about 3.30 pm on Wednesday.

The four of them reportedly ate 12 of these fruits. Hostel authorities and fellow inmates came to know about it only when they threw up and fainted. Subsequently, they were rushed first to the Alappuzha General Hospital at about 7 pm and, from there, to the District Medical College Hospital.

The hostel and training centre are located on an island in the backwaters of Punnamada and this also delayed the rescue attempts. They were admitted to the hospital only at around 9 pm. Aparna's statement was recorded by a judicial magistrate in the hospital and she died in the wee hours of Thursday. Aparna is survived by her father Ramabhadran, who works in a houseboat, mother Geetha, an anganwadi teacher and a younger brother.

The victim's kin, meanwhile, attributed the death to harassment by seniors and a staff member. Aparna, they said had complained during her last visit home about misbehaviour by a senior girl student. Unconfirmed reports also spoke of a coach hitting her with a paddle during a training session.

The State Human Rights Commission took suo motu cognizance of the matter and ordered an inquiry by its investigating officer. Sports minister Thiruvanchooro Radhakrishnan who visited the ailing athletes said the sports secretary too will conduct an inquiry.

The sports minister, Sarbananda Sonowal said he was ready to take action against the guilty. "While law will take its own course, if anyone from the SAI is found guilty, strictest possible action will be taken against him or her," the minister said.