CHENNAI: A 19-year-old girl studying in Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras committed suicide in her hostel room in Chennai, police said.

She has been identified as Fathima Latif, a first-year masters’ student of humanities. Police said she may have taken the extreme step after getting low internal marks. She was from Kollam in Kerala. Fatima was staying in Sarayu hostel in IIT-M campus in Guindy in room number 346. On Saturday, Fatima’s room was locked until 11.30 am. When her friends broke open the door, she was found hanging from the fan,” a source with Kotturpuram police station said.

Fatima’s mother Sajitha Latif was trying to reach her daughter through phone since Friday morning, an inquiry officer added.

“This was the first time Fatima was staying away from her family in the hostel. She was very homesick. Also, she recently got low internal marks. So, these might have driven her to commit suicide,” police said.

Kotturpuram police filed a case and sent Fatima’s body to Royapettah Government Hospital for an autopsy.