Police recovered the hanging body of a third-year computer science student of a private college from a room in the hostel on the institute campus on Thursday afternoon. The body was partially decomposed.

The police and college authorities said Saurav Kumar, 21, a resident of Bhagalpur in Bihar, had gone missing on August 22.

"Saurav was found missing during an attendance check at the hostel on Tuesday morning. His inmates told us that he was last seen on Monday evening. I immediately alerted my superior authorities and also informed Sourav's family in Bihar," said Rajdeep Roy, dean of student welfare at B.C.Roy Engineering College in Durgapur.

The college authority lodged a missing diary with the police on Thursday morning. Saurav's father and other family members also reached Durgapur on Thursday afternoon and met police officers.

The death of the student came to light on Thursday when some housekeeping staff and electricians working in a room on the fourth floor of the hostel building were hit by a stink coming from a closed room on the same floor. "They opened the door and found Sourav hanging from the ceiling fan," said Roy.

No students were supposed to go to the room where the body was found, an official of the college said. Roy said Saurav was an "introvert" and hardly socialised with his classmates.

The police sent the body for postmortem and a forensic team collected samples. The police have interrogated some students and the warden of the hostel. "We have not yet received any complaint of ragging or foul play behind the incident. However, we are exploring all angles and investigation is on," said Kumar Gautam, deputy commissioner of police (east) of Asansol-Durgapur Commissionerate.