A 16-year-old Class X student, Deepanshu, a resident of Dhanana village, was found dead under suspicious circumstances at the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya hostel in Devrala village of Bhiwani district.

While the school administration has termed it a case of suspected suicide, the family has alleged foul play and demanded an impartial investigation into his death.

Praveen Gupta, Vice-Principal of the school, said he was informed by the school watchman at around 1.30 am that a student had been found hanging inside his hostel room. He said the student was first taken to the Community Health Centre at Kairu and later referred to the Civil Hospital in Bhiwani, where doctors declared him dead.

Gupta said 24 students were sleeping in the hostel hall when the incident occurred. According to some students, Deepanshu was last seen sleeping at around 1 am.

Reena, the student’s mother, said he had returned to school on June 30 after the holidays and had spoken to her two days before the incident. She said she did not believe her son had died by suicide and suspected foul play, alleging that there were injury marks on his head and neck. She added that he had appeared happy and showed no signs of distress during their last conversation.

Meanwhile, Bhiwani police said they were investigating the case from multiple angles. An official said the exact cause of death would be determined after the post-mortem examination and completion of the investigation.