The body of a missing engineering student was discovered on Sunday morning, floating in the feeder canal of Sankarpur village under Farakka police in Murshidabad district.

The body was identified as that of 20-year-old Diply Bhakat, a resident of Harishchandrapur in Malda district.

Diply went missing from a train on January 5 while travelling to her college in Dumka, Jharkhand.

Diply was a first-year BTech student at Dumka Engineering College.

Police took the body to Farakka police station and sent it for post-mortem after her family arrived from Malda and identified it.

"On January 5, she left home saying she was going to college in Dumka but she did not reach her institution. She did not contact anyone, and we found her mobile switched off when we tried calling her. Later, I found a message on my phone in which she stated she was going to commit suicide in Farakka. We immediately contacted Farakka police and asked for assistance,” Diply’s father, a trader who did not want to reveal his name, said.

"She was a bright student, which is why we sent her to a reputable engineering college," her father said.

"She last spoke to me while she was at Malda station, but after that, we lost all contact with her. I don’t understand why she would take her own life; there was nothing unusual about her behaviour when she was home. I hope the police will investigate thoroughly to uncover the cause of my daughter’s death," he added.

According to the police, Diply’s bag and mobile phone were found near Netaji Ghat at the feeder canal in Farakka after one day and a missing complaint was lodged by the family members at Farakka police station on January 6.

"We were looking for the girl but she was untraceable. Today (Sunday) her body was found in the feeder canal and we informed the family,” Farakka subdivisional police officer Aminul Islam Khan said, adding they filed an unnatural death case.