Mobashshira Tahsin Ira, a third-year student of the law depart, hanged herself from a ceiling fan, Motihar Police Station Sub-Inspector (SI) Imran Hasan said.

When contacted law department Chairman Professor Hasibul Alam Prodhan said Ira, from Kendua upazila of Netrokona, was staying at the mess to attend her third-year final exam.

“When some of her female friends went to Ira’s room to discuss the upcoming exams, they found her door locked. And they did not get any response after repeatedly knocking on her door.” Hasibul Alam said.

“Then the students called the hostel authority. And they broke open the door and found Ira hanging from the ceiling.”

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SI Imran Hasan said, “After a primary investigation, we are suspecting that Ira committed suicide. However, we sent her body to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsy.”

“We will be sure about the cause of her death when we get medical reports.”

In the last few years, several Rajshahi University students committed suicide.

On 19 December 2020, Debjyoti Bosak Partho, anthropology department second-year student, committed suicide by hanging himself from the ceiling fan in his Patuakhali house.

On October 2019, another Rajshahi University student was found hanging from the ceiling of a mess in the city. The deceased Firoz, 21, was a third-year student of the applied mathematics department.

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Also, according to Dhaka University statistics, as many as 39 students of the institution reportedly committed suicide between January 2005 and December 28 last year.

And in 2020, Covid-19 triggered a rise in suicide ideation, with 10 students allegedly ending their own lives – the latest was the death of Touhidul Islam Siam, a third-year student of zoology.