Bhubaneswar: In a shocking incident, a 22 year-old nurse of a well-known private hospital was found dead in the bathroom under mysterious circumstances in Bhubaneswar on Friday. 

The deceased, identified as Sonali Rout of Ganjam district, was working as a nurse in the well-known private hospital which comes under Chandrashekharpur police limits in the city. She was reportedly on duty when her death occured. Her body was found in the toilet, much to the shock of hospital authorities and patients. 

As per reports, Sonali had come to the hospital for her shift. She carried on with her work as usual but later went missing. However, her colleagues noticed her absence and went looking for her only to find her unconscious in the hospital staff bathroom. Sonali was unresponsive for a while and declared dead thereafter. 

Police on getting information reached the spot immediately and started investigation to probe any possible foul play. While the exact cause of death was not established yet, they said further details will be available only after the postmortem. 

On the other hand, Sonali's family refused to accept her sudden death as she was reportedly in good health and had gone to work like any other day. Ruling out any health-related complications of Sonali, her family alleged that while her death occurred around 1.30 pm, the family was informed two hours later. 

"We were initially told that she was found unconscious in the bathroom. Now police are saying they found a letter and a syringe near the body which indicates suicide. The handwriting in the letter resembles that of my sister. I am unaware of any disturbance in her personal or professional life that could have led her to take such a drastic step. But I am clueless as to why she would attempt suicide in the place of work instead of her home or hostel," Sonali's brother told mediapersons.

"She had complained of night shifts for five consecutive days and no leave. Sonali fell unconscious in the bathroom at 1.30 pm. But we got a call from the hospital at 3.30 pm informing us about the situation. When I asked them, they asked us to reach the hospital immediately. We rushed only to find her dead. I am unable to even process that she is no more. She had no health issue at all," the aunt of the deceased said, crying inconsolably. 

Police meanwhile said they are examining CCTV footage at the hospital and interrogating the staff to probe all possible angles in the case.