NEW BRUNSWICK -- A former Rutgers University student was indicted Thursday for setting fire to a campus building and trying to kill a student and five faculty members inside, Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew Carey announced. No one was injured.

Carey said Shayam Sridhar, 21, of Edison is facing six counts of attempted murder, two counts of aggravated arson, and one count each of causing widespread injury or damage and criminal mischief for allegedly setting the fire at the Allison Road Classroom Building at 618 Allison Road on the Busch Campus in Piscataway on Dec. 20, 2014.

The prosecutor said the six attempted murder counts of the indictment resulted because Sridhar purposely attempted to cause the deaths of a student who was studying on the second floor, as well as a professor and four proctors who were monitoring the test as it was being administered on the first floor, according to the grand jury.

Carey did not give a motive for Sridhar's alleged actions.

He had been a student at the university, but left during the fall term last year, according to the prosecutor.

Sidhar was charged on Christmas Day after Edison police Officer David Tingle identified him from a photo obtained during the investigation, Carey said.

The prosecutor said Sridhar set fire to a 30-foot section of a hallway and an adjoining classroom on the second floor of the classroom building at 1:03 p.m.

The flash fire set off an alarm, forcing the evacuation of 206 people, including students who were taking a final exam in a first-floor auditorium located beneath the burning hallway, the prosecutor said.

Carey said the fire was extinguished by an overhead sprinkler, but damaged portions of the hallway and the classroom. Clean up and repairs cost $250,000, he said.

Sue Epstein may be reached at sepstein@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @susan_epstein. Find NJ.com on Facebook.