An undertrial prisoner was found dead in a jail in Odisha’s Ganjam district on Saturday, officials said.

The body of Deepak Kumar Barik, 26, was found hanging from the shower pipe in the bathroom of the sub-jail at Bhanjanagar, they said.

Barik, a resident of the Tarsingi, was arrested last month for allegedly killing his wife, they added. He was in the jail since November 26, officials said.

“He went to the bathroom in the morning for a bath but did not come out for a long time. The guards got suspicious and knocked on the door. Since there was no response, they entered the bathroom and found him hanging by his towel from the shower,” said Dandapani Patra, the superintendent of the sub-jail.

Barik was immediately taken to the sub-divisional hospital where the doctors declared him dead, he said.

“The exact cause for the suicide is yet to be ascertained,” he said.

The body was handed over to his family after a post-mortem examination, he added.

Police said a case of unnatural death was registered, and an investigation was underway.