A 45-year-old woman, who was found roaming aimlessly at the Railway Colony in Chutia at 12.30am on Monday and taken to the Mahila police station shelter room, was found hanging from the ceiling around 5.30am.

Police said the woman, Shri Bai, committed suicide.

Around 12.30am on Monday, the police control room received a call from a woman who lives at the Railway Colony. The caller said a woman was knocking on her gate and crying. The caller said that the woman told her that “some people were chasing her and they intend to harm her”.

Around 1.30am, police control room van 21 reached the spot and Shri Bai was taken to the Mahila police station around 2am.

“She looked mentally unstable and may have been inebriated,” said deputy superintendent of police (Kotwali) Ajit Kumar Vimal.

“She told her name and said she is a native of Dumri in Gumla district. She identified herself as wife of a certain Sukna Ram. But she did not reveal how she reached Ranchi. Since she was neither an accused nor a suspect in any case, she was sent to the shelter room of the Mahila police station. We could have searched for her relatives later in the day but she committed suicide.”

He said there were two other women inmates in the shelter room.

“Shri Bai used her sari to make a noose. She hanged herself from the ceiling of the asbestos roof,” Vimal said. “Inside the room there is a cemented shelf, which she scaled to tie the sari. We inquired from the two inmates about what had happened and they said Shri Bai was walking inside the room restlessly. The women told her to sleep and then they too went to sleep. We are trying to locate her address. We are investigating the reason behind the suicide.”

Two constables are deputed at the Mahila police station.

A cop said when the constables took a round of the room around 4am, Shri Bai was lying on her bed.

During the 5.30am inspection, the constables found her hanging from the ceiling.

“This is the first case of suicide at this police station,” said the cop. “Our police station is more of a counselling centre to settle matrimonial disputes.”

While all police stations in Ranchi have closed-circuit television cameras, the Mahila police station doesn’t have one.

The Kotwali DSP said CCTV cameras would be installed at strategic points in and outside the police station.

The main gate of the Mahila police station remains closed during the night for the security of the women inmates. Even the second entrance to the station remains shut at night. There is a shelter room, a lockup, an officer’s room and an office at the police station, in addition to the front corridor.