Mangaluru: A 24-year-old NRI techie and brother of a Kerala NEET aspirant who died by suicide earlier this year was found dead in a hotel near Mangaluru International Airport on Monday.

Arjun Mahesh, son of K Radhika and Mahesh of Mukkood in Pallikkara in Kasaragod, was found dead at the Sky Grand Empire Hotel in Maravoor, within the limits of Kavoor Police Station.

He was working as an automobile engineer in Dubai, Mangaluru city police commissioner Sudheer Kumar Reddy said.

Police recovered a brief note from the hotel room addressed to his mother and two friends. It reportedly read: “Amma, I’m sorry, inform friends.”

Police said Arjun had also requested that some of his friends be informed about his death. An investigation is underway to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident and what may have led to it.

Arjun was the elder brother of Aija R Mahesh, 19, a NEET aspirant who died in Kerala in June after an alleged suicide attempt amid preparations for the re-conducted medical entrance examination.

Aija was found hanging from a ceiling fan in her hostel room at Pala in Kottayam district on the afternoon of June 2. Fellow residents alerted hostel authorities, who rushed her to a private hospital in Arunapuram. She was later shifted to another hospital in Cherpunkal and placed on ventilator support.

She died on June 3 despite treatment. Her body was later shifted to the mortuary at Kottayam Medical College Hospital for post-mortem examination.

According to reports, Aija had been preparing for the re-conducted NEET examination scheduled for June 21 after the earlier examination was cancelled following allegations of a question paper leak.

Reports also said she had been under considerable academic pressure while attending a demanding coaching programme and had spoken to her parents about difficulties she was facing with her studies. Police had recorded statements from her parents following the incident.

The circumstances of Arjun’s death and any possible connection with the events surrounding his sister’s death are being examined by police.