Kanpur, Dec 31 (IANS): A 19-year-old M.Sc student of a local college in Kanpur has been found dead under mysterious circumstances.

The girl was found lying in an unconscious state near the COD bridge. After being informed, her family rushed her to the Kanshi Ram Hospital, where the doctors declared her brought dead.

The family members have accused the victim's classmate of killing her.

Her father, Surdarshan Yadav, told the police that his daughter was pursuing M.Sc (first year) from a local degree college. On Wednesday, she had left home saying that she was going to fill a form to procure a laptop.

"Usually, after returning from college, she used to take tuition in two houses, and return home every day by 7 p.m. However, on Wednesday evening, when she did not return home, we started contacting her on her phone, but none of our calls were answered. Later in the wee hours of Thursday, someone picked up the phone and informed us that she was lying under the COD bridge. We rushed there and took her to the Kanshi Ram Hospital, where the doctors declared her brought dead," he said.

The girl had injury marks on the nose and throat which led the family to believe that she was probably strangled to death.

DCP East Pramod Kumar Singh said: "An FIR will be filed on the basis of the family member's complaint. The cause of death will be clear after the post-mortem report comes. Further action will be taken on the basis of complaint and post-mortem report."