Mudita Saraf, 18, committed suicide on Thursday morning by hanging herself at her residence at South End Park, in the Lake police station area.

Mudita, a student of Class XII who had passed her Madhyamik with 86 per cent marks, was found dead inside her bathroom attached to her bedroom.

Police are yet to ascertain what led the only child to take her own life. “No suicide note was found in the victim’s room. Besides, her parents did not find anything wrong with her behaviour,” said Anuj Sharma, deputy commissioner of police (south division).

According to police, the death occurred around 6 am in the second-floor flat of a housing estate.

“Mudita woke up around 5 am and was studying before leaving for school. Her mother, Renu Saraf, told her to get ready,” said an officer of Lake police station, adding: “Mudita replied ‘OK’ as usual.”

After her mother came out, Mudita locked the door of her bedroom from inside. Her parents did not find anything strange in that, as they thought she would bathe.

But after half an hour, when Mudita did not emerge from her room, her father, Bhagwati Prasad Saraf, a real-estate businessman, realised something was wrong. The fears were confirmed when Mudita did not respond to the repeated knocks on her door.

“Saraf then decided to break open the door. He, with the aid of two domestic helps, broke the door and entered the room,” said an officer investigating the case.

The bedroom was empty. The door of the attached bathroom was open. Saraf entered the toilet to find Mudita hanging from the ceiling.

“Mudita used her dupatta to hang herself. She tied one end to an iron clamp on the ceiling. She never finished her bath,” said the officer.

Mudita’s parents cut the dupatta and pulled her down.

“They first called a local doctor, who advised the parents to shift Mudita to hospital immediately. She was taken to Ramakrishna Seva Pratishthan, where doctors declared her dead,” said deputy commissioner Sharma.

Policemen from Lake thana were clueless about the reason behind the death.

“Preliminary investigation has revealed that Mudita had a secluded life and there was no strain in her relations with her parents,” said an officer. “She did tell her father that she wanted to skip the coming exam, though. We are verifying this,” he added.

Even 12 hours after the death, Mudita’s mother was in no position to speak. Jagdish Rai, the 42-year-old cook of the Saraf family, said he had never seen Mudita quarrelling with her parents. “Most of the time, she used to study. She did not watch a lot of TV.”

B.N. Chaudhury, caretaker of the estate, too, said after returning from school, Mudita rarely went out.