The body of a 17-year-old tribal boy was found hanging from a tree in Jharkhand's Dumka district on Wednesday, police said.

The incident happened at a village in Dumka town police station area, they said.

The boy, a class 10 student, lived in a rented house in the village with his grandmother and siblings, Sub Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Noor Mustafa Ansari said.

It is being investigated whether he died by suicide or he was killed, he said.

Last week, a 14-year-old tribal girl was raped, killed and hanged from a tree in Mufassil police station area of the district.

In August, a 16-year-old girl died after she was set on fire by a man "whose advances she had spurned".