A first-year student of Mysore Medical College committed suicide on Thursday allegedly due to ragging, police said.

Chetan Raj, son of a BSNL employee in Shimoga, joined the college on September 10 and had been staying in the college hostel. According to his parents, Chetan had returned to Shimoga for Ganesh Chaturthi festival on September 15. He had then complained that he was being subjected to ragging. Subsequently, his parents decided to get him a paying guest accomodation in Mysore.

The 18-year-old vacated the college hostel and checked into a lodge on September 16, pending his accommodation as a paying guest. His body was found hanging from the roof of his lodge room on Thursday.

Police have registered a case and are investigating.

Hostel wardens said they were also inquiring into circumstances leading to Chetan's suicide.