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The Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology on Monday evening termed the demise of a third-year engineering student, who was allegedly found hanging in the girl's hostel, as "unfortunate" and claimed that the university has taken "all-out efforts to restore normalcy in the campus and hostels to resume the academic activities."
Further, it said that the police had apprehended the accused and appealed to "Nepali students who have or plan to leave the campus to return and resume the classes." "There was an unfortunate incident which took place late in the evening yesterday on the KIIT campus. Immediately after the incident, police investigated the matter and apprehended the culprit. "The KIIT administration has taken all-out efforts to restore normalcy in the campus and hostels to resume academic activities," the University said in a statement today. Prior to this, KIIT had issued a notice which reportedly said that the Odisha college was "closed sine die for all international students from Nepal" and there were directed to vacate the university campus. Cuttack Police Commissioner Suresh Dev Datta Singh said today, "Yesterday (February 16) evening, we received information about the incident of suicide by one girl student of a third-year Computer Science in KIIT University. On this information, a case was registered." "There was an allegation that this girl who belonged to Nepal was harassed by one student of KIIT University in third-year Mechanical engineering. We investigated the matter, and we got prima facie evidence that there was some sort of harassment which could have prompted the girl to commit suicide, so we arrested the accused person; we examined him, and today, he has been forwarded to judicial custody," the Cuttack Police Commissioner said. "Yesterday, there was a sentimental, emotional outburst so both students belonging to Nepal, as well as India, joined together in protest against the university authorities, demanding justice. We deployed a police force at KIIT University...they were convinced by morning and now the situation is peaceful.," he said. The Police Commissioner said that some personal belongings of the deceased girl have been seized by the police and they will sent to the forensic science laboratory for analysis to gather further evidence in this case..." Students from Nepal were seen leaving their hostels following this announcement. Students stated that they were visibly distressed and anxious as they don't have necessary tickets to return home. Some even claimed that they were preparing for examinations which are set to start from the last week of February. Rajan Gupta, a student from Nepal claimed that they were forced to vacate the hostel without clear information. "We were protesting for the (deceased) girl. We don't know what their intentions are, but we were forcibly made to vacate the hostel. There is no fixed train schedule, and I have no money. We haven't even had food. We are helpless," he said.Gupta also said that college staff had entered the hostel, urging students to leave and even. "The staff members entered the hostel, made us vacate..., " he said. Anil Prasad Yadav, another student from Nepal, described the events leading up to their departure. "A girl from Nepal was found dead yesterday (February 16). We went to the International Office to find out more details about this but we could not find anything. We were there overnight, sitting on a dharna. We were sent back to the hostel from there. We were finally told to pack up and leave within an hour. We have nothing with us. We don't know how we will go. We have not even had food...We are trying to get a ticket," Yadav said. (ANI)
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