Bengaluru, Aug 19 (IANS): A 24-year-old student in the city-based Indian Institute of Science (IISc) committed suicide fearing that he may have contracted coronavirus after talking to a friend who exhibited some symptoms, an official said on Wednesday.

"Sandeep, a BTech student from IISc has committed suicide fearing coronavirus infection," confirmed a police official to IANS.

Police booked a case of unnatural death under the CrPc and were waiting for the student's parents to arrive.

Sandeep met a friend who exhibited some Covid symptoms and later isolated himself, but tested negative for the virus.

Following this incident, he sent a mail to his friends conveying his fear that he may have contracted the coronavirus and that he wanted to commit suicide.

"Sandeep was already known to have depression issues," said the official. Though he mailed this message, his threat was not taken seriously because he had a history of depression.

Later on Tuesday, Sandeep was found hanging in his hostel room.

The deceased student had joined the IISc in 2019 in the Department of Computational and Data Sciences and hails from Chhattisgarh.