Bhubaneswar, April 26: A 21-year-old engineering student was found dead near his hostel today.

External injuries that were found on the back of his head and other parts of the body have led police to suspect that he had been murdered.

The police found the body of Tapas Bag, a second-year mechanical student of a private engineering college at Sundarpada on the city outskirts, near the boundary wall of his hostel on the college campus.

Bag’s hostel mates discovered the body.

Later, the police rushed to the spot with a forensic team. A police official said Bag, a native of Titilagarh in Balangir district, was last seen at the hostel around 1.30am today.

“His roommate told us that he did not stay in his room last night. Some of his other friends told us that he had visited a nearby room and left it saying that he was going back to his own room,” said another police official.

The police are also investigating to ascertain whether Bag had fallen off the roof of the four-storey hostel.

“It might be possible that Bag was on the roof last night and might have fallen off the roof,” he said. The police also did not rule out the possibility of Bag being pushed off the rooftop.

Jugal Bag, a relative of the deceased, said the student had no any rivalry with anyone.

“I received the news from his friends and rushed to the hospital, where his body was taken for post-mortem. There were external injuries on his body. So, we suspect foul play behind his death,” said Jugal, who works at a private firm in Bhubaneswar.

The police have registered a case of unnatural death.

“We have sent the body for post-mortem and are waiting for the report,” said inspector in charge of Airfield police station Rashmi Ranjan Sahoo.

On April 2, a final-year electrical engineering student of a private engineering college was killed by two other enginneering students at Chandrasekharpur. The accused assaulted the deceased, Saroj Sahu, with wooden planks. The police had arrested both the accused.