Berhampur, Sept. 21: An MPhil student in the department of English, Berhampur University, died under mysterious circumstances after he fell from the rooftop of a three-storey hostel building on the Bhanja Vihar campus last night.

Neelakantha Behera, 29, apparently fell from the roof of the 5th Boys' Hostel Bahuda at 11.30pm. The deceased, however, was not a boarder of the hostel.

"Neelakantha, son of Paramananda Behera, resident of Dumudi Sahi of Kandhamal district, suffered injuries to his waist, hands and legs. We found blood clotting in his nose. The exact cause of his death is yet to be ascertained," said Gopalpur police station inspector in charge Pragyan Paramita Jena. The police have registered a case of unnatural death, she said.

"We have formed an inquiry committee. It would be premature to say anything at this stage before the inquiry committee completes its investigation," said Berhampur University vice-chancellor Rajendra Prasad Das.

"I have already issued a circular to all the hostel superintendents not to allow unauthorised boarders and take action against those who somehow managed to stay at the hostels after 8pm. I have asked them to follow this strictly because of the ensuing students' union election," he said.

The cops are focusing on why Neelakantha, who is not a boarder in 5th Boys' Hostel, went to the rooftop of that building and what he was doing there at 11.30 at night. The post-mortem on Neelakantha's body was done this morning, the cops said.

English department head Sruti Das said: "Neelakantha attended the classes till 4.30pm yesterday. He was to submit his MPhil dissertation in January."

Ramkrushna Behera, Neelakantha's younger brother, said Neelakantha passed postgraduation in English in 2011 from Berhampur University. He completed BEd from Kalinga BEd College in Boudh and joined the MPhil programme in 2015.

"He came to Bhubaneswar on Sunday and left for Bhanja Vihar on Monday morning. I talked with him over the phone last evening. But, I received a phone call from his roommate at 1am last night that my brother had fallen from the hostel building's roof and died. Then the phone was switched off," said Ramkrushna.

The cremation was done at his native village late this afternoon, said Ramkrushna.