A 23-year-old inmate of Surat Central Jail, who was accused of kidnapping and rape of a minor girl, committed suicide by hanging himself inside the barrack on Wednesday.

The deceased who is a resident of Adajan and a native of Aurangabad in Maharashtra, left behind a note written in Marathi pointing to a love angle as the reason, said inspector RR Desai of Sachin police station.

According to police, the man eloped with a girl last year, with the intention of marrying her, after her parents did not accept the relationship. The girl’s parents lodged a missing complaint, suspecting him.

Police arrested the accused from Aurangabad and handed over the girl to her parents, following which a complaint of rape and kidnap was registered by her father.

On Wednesday around 2.30 am, the accused hanged himself in the barrack using a bedsheet.

Police sent the body to New Civil Hospital for postmortem before handing it over to his relatives.

“We are getting the details of the case against him. On checking the CCTV footage from the barrack, we found that he died by suicide,” said inspector Desai.