Berhampur, April 6: Unidentified goons set the door of a professor's room at Berhampur University on fire this morning.

The room was allotted to political science professor Bishnu Charan Chowdhury, who retired last June.

"The door has been completely damaged. But, all the articles and furniture inside the room are safe," said Jinendranath Mohanty, head of the political science department.

"The room was allotted to me even after my retirement. I have had some documents and books inside the room," Chowdhury said, who visited the room today and verified the articles. "The door has to be replaced immediately," he said.

Mohanty said he came to know about the incident at 8:30am. "I have informed the registrar about the matter and requested the varsity authority for further investigation. This is very unfortunate, and I feel bad for it. In my 35 years of service, I have never seen such an incident. I can't understand why someone would do this," said Mohanty.

Berhampur University registrar Manmath Padhi said the security officers and the varsity supervisors investigated the matter on the spot. "We are inquiring as to how the goons managed to enter the building. The building remains locked most of the time, and night guards patrol the entire enclave. It might be possible that the guards went outside for a while and the goons sneaked into the building at that time," Padhi said.

"We are waiting for the investigation report. Once it's done, we will finalise our next course of action," said Padhi.

Bhanja Bihar police outpost officer in-charge Bishnu Prasad Gouda said the varsity authority had not lodged any complaint till today evening.