A woman pursuing an executive MBA course at IIM Calcutta was found dead in her hostel room on Saturday.

When members of the institute’s staff broke open the door in the presence of police, Payel Khandelwal, 28, was found hanging from the ceiling fan.

Khandelwal, who hailed from Baguiati on the city’s northern outskirts, had been married to a businessman two-and-a-half years ago.

An officer of Haridevpur police station said on Saturday morning IIM officials alerted them about a student not responding to knocks on the door or phone calls.

She was staying at the facility called the Management Development Centre that usually accommodates those who pursue the one-year residential course meant for working executives.

The course fees is Rs 27 lakh.

The police said Khandelwal had committed suicide.

Nilanjan Biswas, DC, South West division, said: “The executive MBA student who was staying in Room No. 327 on the third floor of the Management Development Centre building committed suicide by hanging, using a bed sheet. The room was bolted from inside. Officials of the centre broke open the door. No complaint has been received so far. No suicide note has been found.”

Khandelwal’s father visited the police station after being alerted about her death.

The student had been attending online classes from her home since April.

She had reached the campus after IIM Calcutta in early September called students of the executive MBA course to the campus so that they could use the institute’s Net facilities and attend online classes without any disruption.

Many students had found it difficult to attend classes from their homes because of poor Net connectivity.

In July, IIM Calcutta had decided to refund deposit fees and offer deferred admission (next year) to students of the executive MBA course after six candidates sought a refund saying they didn’t want to pursue the course in such “uncertain financial times”.

They had cited the change in the nature and the online mode and limited hardware resources to cope with the change as the reasons apart from financial uncertainty behind their decision to pull out of the course and seek a refund.

The 62 students of the class — after the six had pulled out — were brought to the institute in batches and were put up at the centre.

“We are deeply shocked and saddened with the demise of a resident student,” an IIM Calcutta spokesperson said. “The police are investigating the matter and we are cooperating with the authorities. In this hour of grief, the faculty and students stand by the family.”

In the afternoon, the institute held an online condolence in memory of the student.