A first-year undergraduate girl student from Jharkhand allegedly committed suicide at the Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition at Hajipur in Bihar’s Vaishali district.

The institute, popularly known as IHM Hajipur, is an autonomous body under the Union ministry of tourism.

Although the institute’s management asserted that it was a case of suicide, police were investigating the matter also from the angle of murder or the girl being pushed to end her life.

The incident occurred at the hostel of the institute, located on its campus, on Wednesday evening.

The victim has been identified as Anisha Kumari, a resident of Hazaribagh in Jharkhand.

Asked about the incident, IHM Hajipur principal Pulak Mandal told The Telegraph: “It is a suicide case. The police have the details.” “Anisha was a first-year student in the BSc hospitality and hotel administration course. She was 19 or 20 years old. We got information about the suicide on Wednesday evening around 5pm. We informed the police,” Mandal added.

Hajipur Sadar police station in-charge sub-inspector Sudhakar Pandey said that an FIR has been registered and the death was under investigation.

“The girl apparently hanged herself from the window with the help of a sari. However, it could be anything. It could be murder also. We have recovered a suicide note, but will not reveal its content at this juncture because the investigation is going on. We are also waiting for the autopsy report,” Pandey told The Telegraph.

Pandey added that the deceased girl’s father was a Jharkhand police officer. He worked with Bihar police prior to the creation of Jharkhand in 2000.