A third-year MBBS student was found shot dead in his hostel room at the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS) in Sindh's Jamshoro district, officials said on Thursday.

The body of the 20-year-old student was found with a gunshot wound on his temple and a pistol in his right hand; it was subsequently shifted to Liaquat University Hospital's city branch for a post-mortem examination.

LUMHS Vice-Chancellor Dr Bikha Ram said the deceased student was alone in his room in the Ibn-e-Sina hostel. When his roommate — who had gone out to attend some programme — returned to the dorm, he found the room's door locked. He broke it open to find his roommate's body lying on the bed, the VC added.

Police reached the site of the incident and seized the weapon found at the scene.

Dr Ram said he has formed an inquiry committee comprising the hostel provost, director of student affairs, warden and the campus director to determine the circumstances that led to the student's death.

He said the incident was an "apparent suicide", but the cause of the death was yet to be determined.

According to the VC, the committee will also investigate how the deceased student had apparently managed to bring the gun to the hostel room. The incident has highlighted the need for some preventative measures to be taken by the hostel administration, Dr Ram said.

Jamshoro Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Tauqir Naeem said the death appeared to be a suicide "on the face of it", but added that the incident would be probed.

He said they had learnt that a brother of the deceased was battling cancer while another brother had previously died of the same disease.

Dr Ram also quoted the student's friends as saying that he (the deceased) remained depressed allegedly due to his brother's illness.

According to the VC, the young man had reportedly sent a text message to his roommate saying "Aaj ki raat bari yadgar hogi (Tonight will be very memorable)", but the roommate had not understood the meaning of the message at the time.