The terrace (circled in red) from where Arkaprabha is believed to have jumped to his death. (Pradip Sanyal)

A final-year student at NRS Medical College and Hospital, who had been depressed since failing a term paper in February, was found dead on Friday morning apparently after jumping off the fourth-floor terrace of the boys’ hostel on the hospital premises.

Students found Arkaprabha Das, who lived with his family in Dhakuria, lying in a pool of blood around 9am. He was rushed to the intensive therapy unit where he was declared dead on arrival. A hospital official said Arkaprabha, 23, had suffered head, face and waist injuries.

“A probe revealed he had committed suicide. He was suffering from depression as he had failed to clear an exam,” said city detective chief Damayanti Sen.

“Arkaprabha was a day scholar. We have learnt that he left home at 7am to attend a class an hour later. But he was not seen in the class. Later, his body was found on the lawn in front of the hostel building,” said L.K. Ghosh, the medical superintendent and vice-principal of NRS.

Arkaprabha’s parents Shyamal and Sarmistha work with a nationalised bank. His younger sister wrote her ISC exam this year.

Shyamal, who had seen Arkaprabha off at Dhakuria station at 7.15am, was inconsolable and kept muttering “everything is over”. Sarmistha was numb with shock.

A neighbour said Shyamal had told him a few days ago that Arkaprabha was not being able to cope with the pressure of studies.

Classmates and relatives said he had slipped into depression after failing an ophthalmology paper in February. He was to appear in a supplementary test next month.

“He was good in studies but the failure in the ophthalmology paper hit him hard,” said Arkaprabha’s uncle Bimal Das.