Bhubaneswar: An 18-year-old girl studying at the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) in Odisha’s Bhubaneswar was found hanging from a ceiling fan in her hostel room on Thursday, said police. This is the second case of student suicide on the KIIT campus.
Death of Nepali student leads to outrage
The death of Prasa Saha from Nepal comes just 2 months after another student from Nepal Prakriti Lamsal died by suicide in KIIT. Saha was a student of B Tech Computer Science. Her body was recovered from room number 111 of the girls hostel of the institute.
Police Commissioner S Dev Datta Singh confirmed the death. He said, “Yes, the body of a girl from Nepal has been recovered. It seems that she has died by suicide at the ladies’ hostel of KIIT.” He further said that the Nepal Embassy in New Delhi has been informed about the death of the student death.
The body has been moved to AIIMS Bhubaneswar. The post mortem will take place once the parents of the deceased student reach the city. They are scheduled to arrive in the state capital on Friday.
The Infocity Police Station has registered a case of unnatural death (UD) in the matter. The police have not received any complaint in the matter, said the Commissioner. However investigations are being done and the other students living in the hostel are being questioned. Officials said that all other girls are cooperating in the investigations.
Police said that the death was discovered when hostel authorities were marking the attendance of the students at around 7 pm on Thursday. After receiving no response from her room, the authorities informed the police. The police team arrived on the scene and found the girl hanging from the ceiling fan.
The college authorities have not made any statement on the death of the Nepalese student. The Odisha government in a statement said, “The parents of the girl were informed about the incident immediately by the university authorities. In this hour of distress, the state government extends its support to the family of the deceased and offers its condolences to them.”
February incident
The student suicide in February on the KIIT campus had led to widespread outrage. At the time Nepali national Prakriti Lamsal died by suicide. It was alleged that she was being blackmailed. The University authorities reportedly did not pay heed to her repeated complaints.
At the time other Nepales students who were protesting against the suicide, were allegedly assaulted by the college staff. Many Nepalese students were reportedly evicted from the campus and asked to leave for their country.
Following the outrage, Nepal’s PM KP Sharma Oli raised the issue at the diplomatic levels and requested the Indian government to ensure justice to the Nepalese students. After this the state government had formed a high-level committee led by the additional chief secretary of the Home Department to probe the matter. The National Human Rights Commission also intervened and probed the death of Lamsal.
Following the investigations, 1 Indian student was charged with abetting the suicide. At least 10 University employees were arrested for assaulting Nepalese students.
