BENGALURU: A 19-year old journalism student was found dead at her paying guest accommodation at Kothanur police station limits in the city on Wednesday evening. Though the exact cause of her death is yet to be ascertained, prima facie, the police suspect that she might have committed suicide after an overdose of prescription drugs. 

The victim, Sophia Damani, was a fourth semester journalism student of a private college located at K Narayanapura, Kothanur. Though the girl is suspected to have ended her life early on Wednesday, the incident came to light only later in the evening. While Sophia is a native of Mumbai, where her grandparents are living with her sister, her parents are working in Dubai.

“The girl had not attended college on Wednesday saying that she was not well and stayed back at the paying guest accommodation. Around evening, the maid of the house found the girl on the bed. Since she was not responding, the maid alerted the owner of the PG who in turn called the police,” a police attached to Kothanur Police Station said. Though she was rushed to a hospital, she was dead by 3 pm before the maid found her on the bed.

Police suspect that acute depression caused by living away from her parents and grandparents could have forced Sophia take the extreme step.

“She was admitted to a college in Bengaluru a year ago. She did not mingle well with her classmates and used to complain that she was not well regularly,” the police said.

Meanwhile, the girl’s parents reached Bengaluru on Thursday evening and her body was taken to Mumbai after an autopsy at Dr Ambedkar Medical College and Hospital.  Her last rites are expected to be performed in Mumbai.

When contacted, police said that the exact cause of death can be ascertained only after the post-mortem report is out. “Her parents were also aware of her depression. There are indications that she might have died due to (drug) overdose,” police said. Though there was no death note, police said that Sophia had written a small letter apologising to one of her classmates for not joining her for dinner last Sunday.