A final year bio-medical engineering student was found dead at the house in which he was staying in Kattankulathur on the city's outskirts on Friday evening.
The Maraimalai Nagar police, who are investigating the case, said that Vaibhav Kumar Singh (22) hailed from Patna in Bihar, and was studying at SRM University. He was staying in a rented house at Sadasivam Nagar with a fellow student, who had gone to his native place.
On Thursday night, Vaibhav's friends called him and spoke to him. The friends called him again on Friday morning and later in the day, but there was no response from him.
ADVERTISEMENT
The friends, who panicked, visited his house and noticed that the front door was bolted from inside. They informed his house owner, who, in turn, alerted personnel at Maraimalai Nagar police station.
Personnel reached the room and broke the door open. Once inside, they noticed Vaibhav lying on the bed motionless. He was taken to the Chengalpattu Medical College Government General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
No external injuries were seen on the student's body. There was no indication of him being strangled to death, nor were there any noticeable blood stains, police said.
ADVERTISEMENT
His parents were informed and they were on their way to Chennai. Post-mortem would be performed only after the parents arrived, police said adding that a case under Section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (death under mysterious circumstances) had been registered.
The exact cause of the death could be ascertained only after the post-mortem, police said.