A second-year BTech student of the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Patna allegedly died by suicide at the institute's Bihta campus, around 40km west of the Bihar capital, on Friday night.

The incident led to massive protests by the students of the institute over the death, lack of facilities and administrative apathy.

Pallavi Reddy, 19, a native of Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh, was studying electronics and communication at the NIT Patna. On Friday, her batchmates got worried when she did not turn up for dinner at the mess. They looked for her and found her room locked from inside.

The college authorities broke open the door and found her hanging from the ceiling fan. A suicide note was allegedly found in the engineering student’s room, which said that she was ending her life and nobody else was to be blamed for it. Police were informed about the incident.

“We received information around 10.30pm on Friday about the suicide of a student in a room of the girls' hostel at the NIT Patna. The police and Dial 112 teams reached there and rushed the student to the ESIC (Employees’ State Insurance Corporation) Hospital, where the doctors declared her dead,” said Patna (West) superintendent of police (SP) Sharat R.S. He added that the body was sent to Danapur sub-divisional hospital for post-mortem.

Patna senior SP Rajeev Mishra said that a suicide note was found in Pallavi’s room. It indicated that she was going through mental stress. She also thanked her parents, brother and teachers of her schools in the note. “We are probing the case from all angles. The real reason behind the suicide will come out only after the investigation is complete. We will also speak to her two roommates,” Mishra said.