A 26-year-old XLRI student died under yet unexplained circumstances on the premier B-school’s CH Area campus in Bistupur on Friday.

A surveillance camera footage shows Shashwat Dixit leaving his hostel around 5.50am for another meant for girls some 50 metres away, but slumping midway. He was declared brought dead in hospital at 6.30am.

The second-year human resource management student was a native of Kanpur, UP. His parents have been informed and they are expected to reach the steel city by Saturday.

Doctors, on the condition of anonymity, said Shashwat might have suffered a cardiac arrest. A sudden blackout might have also led to the fall, and brain haemorrhage caused his death. Death by poisoning is a distant possibility, they said.

Police are waiting for a post-mortem to know the exact cause of death. A forensic team visited the campus in the afternoon.

According to an XLRI source, Shashwat stayed in a single-occupancy room on the ground floor of St Thomas Hostel. “He left his Room 11 and set out for Mother Teresa Residency, another hostel on the campus for girls, and collapsed on the way. Some members of faculty saw him sprawled on the ground and rushed him to Tata Main Hospital (TMH), a 15-minute drive from the campus. He didn’t make it,” said the source.

The XLRI management expressed grief over the sudden death of a “bright student”. Shashwat had been selected for Accenture Talent Accelerator Programme during the pre-placement offer.

“We are extremely sad to inform you about the sudden demise of one of our students, Shashwat Dixit, today morning. He had an accidental fall while walking towards another hostel and was rushed to hospital… His parents have been informed and they are on their way to Jamshedpur. We extend our deepest condolences to his family,” the B-school said in a statement.

Most classes were suspended on Friday. Students and faculty members remained tight-lipped. The campus was put under strict security cover. No outsider, except policemen, were allowed to enter.

City SP Prabhat Kumar speaks to an XLRI official after the death of second-year student Shashwat Dixit on the Jamshedpur campus on Friday. Picture by Animesh Sengupta

Bistupur thana OC Srineewash who was the first to respond to the situation said Shashwat was found lying almost in front of the hostel for girls. “There is no apparent reason behind his death. The cause will be clear in autopsy. The body will be shifted from the TMH morgue to MGM Medical College mortuary in Dimna once the boy’s parents arrive,” he added.

City SP Prabhat Kumar and DSP (composite control room) Sudhir Kumar also inspected the incident site. The DSP said CCTV cameras showed the student walking towards Mother Teresa Residency and suddenly collapsing.

“We have found the deceased student’s laptop in the room of a girl at the hostel (Mother Teresa Residency) He was probably going there to take it back when he slumped. The time was 5.50am,” DSP Kumar said.

Chief of indoor medical services at TMH Dr K.P. Dubey said it was a “medico-legal case” as the student was declared brought dead. “Such cases are directly referred to TMH camp thana, which operates under Bistupur police station. We cannot shed light on how the boy died,” he added.

This is the second death of an XLRI student in three months.

In November 10, 2018, second-year business management student Harsh Balani (24) was found dead at Peerless Inn hotel in central Calcutta with four stab wounds on his neck and a kitchen knife beside the body. Harsh was from Rajkot, Gujarat.