A 17-year-old student of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya was found hanging in the bathroom of his hostel in Gyanpur here, police said on Saturday, suspecting he committed suicide due to the fear of failing class 12 board examination.

The incident came to light on Friday night when Amit Kumar Bind had gone missing from his hostel and after a search, he was found hanging with a nylon rope in the bathroom, they said.

Bind, in a six-page suicide note purportedly written by him, said he was under depression after the physics paper. It was also claimed in the note found from his pocket that the exam conducted on March 4 was in a “totally changed pattern”, police said.

Police said it was prima facie a case of suicide but detailed investigations will be done to remove all doubts as a small bottle was also found in the mouth of the student.

District Magistrate Rajendra Prasad and SP Ram Badan Singh visited the hostel on Saturday morning.