LARKANA: A BDS final-year student at Bibi Aseefa Dental College (BADC) was found dead in her hostel room in mysterious circumstances on Monday. It was presumed that she might have committed suicide.

Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University (SMBBMU) Vice Chancellor Prof Aneela Attaur Rehman told Dawn that the student, Nimirta Amarta Maher Chandani, was found dead in her room, which was locked. She said the mobile phone and other belongings of the deceased student along with other evidence were taken into custody by police for a forensic analysis. The actual cause of her death was yet to be ascertained, she added.

University sources said that SMBBMU administration was informed about the incident at around 2.30pm. The VC and registrar as well as principals of the BADC and Chandka Medical College along with other officers and police rushed to the student’s room (No. 47) of hostel-3. The door was broken open and Ms Chandani was rushed to the NICVD’s casualty section, where doctors pronounced her dead on arrival, the sources said.

Officials of the Rehmatpur police station have started an investigation into the incident.

“We informed the police and her parents about the incident while the body was kept in the CMC Hospital’s ICU,” the VC said. According to initial investigation, there was no sign of torture on her body, except for a bruise around her neck. Ms Chandani belonged to a well-off trader family of Mirpur Mathelo town of Ghotki district.

SMBBMU registrar Prof Dr Shahida in her report sent to the Sindh chief minister stated that student was presumed to be unconscious while she was lying on the bed. The report said she was rushed to the CMCH where doctors pronounced her dead on arrival.

Appearing in the final-year examination, she had attempted her first paper a day before, the university sources said.

Ms Chandani was sharing the room with two other students, who are being questioned to ascertain the cause of her death, the VC said. She might have committed suicide while her room-mates were away, another source at the CMC suggested.

Till the filing of this report, neither a post-mortem examination was performed nor an FIR registered.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2019