No evidence of explosive material
Government officials at first suspected the blast was caused by explosives accidentally left after building work. However, investigations found no evidence of explosive material at the site.
"When no evidence of explosive material was found, we moved to the theory that it might be a meteorite," said a district official who asked not be named. "It is not confirmed yet as samples need to be analyzed."
A team from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics was expected to visit on Tuesday to collect samples.
G. Baskar, the principal of the college in Vellore district, was working in his cabin when he heard an explosion.
"It was a sound like nothing I've ever heard before," he said. "There was no smell at all, no fire, nothing."
The last reported death from a meteorite strike was in 1825, according to a list kept by International Comet Quarterly, a scientific journal.
Simon Goodwin, an astrophysics expert from Britain's University of Sheffield, said meteorite deaths were rare because
the rocks usually burn up when passing through the Earth's atmosphere or land in the ocean or hit remote areas.
"When you look at the fraction of the Earth's surface that is heavily populated, it's not very much," he said.
In 2013, a meteorite exploded over central Russia, raining fireballs over a vast area and causing a shock wave that smashed windows, damaged buildings and injured 1,200 people.