CHENNAI: A 32-year-old woman lawyer was found dead inside the bathtub of the room she had checked-in in a star hotel in Teynampet on Monday. Police have registered a case of suspicious death and have detained her male friend, who was with her in the room, for questioning.

The deceased was identified as Roja (32), a native of Tiruvannamalai, who was practising as a lawyer in Chennai. According to the police, Roja and her friend Yashwanth Kumar, also a lawyer, checked into the hotel on Feb 15.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the two of them had consumed alcohol that night and the man left the room the next morning.

Later in the day, he had called the woman over the phone, but she did not respond, after which he went to the hotel and knocked on the door. As there was no response, he alerted the hotel staff who informed the police and the authorities, who entered the room to find the woman lying unconscious in the bathtub.

She was moved to a hospital, where she was declared as brought dead. Later, her body was sent to the Government Royapettah Hospital for post-mortem examination. Yashwanth Kumar was detained for questioning.

The Teynampet police said that the cause of death would be established only after the autopsy report