Nepali student found dead in India’s KIIT Hostel; University announces “sine dine” for Nepali students

Kathmandu: The Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) in Bhubaneswar witnessed protests after a 20-year-old engineering student from Nepal was found dead in her hostel room on Sunday evening.

The student, Prakriti Lamsal, was pursuing a B.Tech in computer science student in the university.

Students from Nepal blocked the road near the KIIT campus. They alleged the university authorities of ignorance when the students went to complain to the International Relations Office at the university. The students went to report Lamasal being harassed by her batchmate but no action was taken against the accused.

The university has announced “sine die” for all international students from Nepal. And directed Nepali students to vacate the campus immediately on Monday.

The officials asked over 500 students from Nepal to board buses. They also dropped the students at various railway stations and asked them to head home.

KIIT registrar Jnyana Ranjan Mohanty claimed that Lamsal committed suicide because of a strained relationship.

Issuing a statement, KIIT said that University officials immediately informed the police about the incident. The statement states that the student might have taken this step after a personal dispute/issue between them.

The Indian Express cited police officials as saying the preliminary investigation suggests she committed suicide. Her batchmate from the same university has been detained in connection with the incident.

Police said he is being interrogated. An FIR has also been filed under sections of abetment to suicide.

A police team visited the hostel and sent the body for a post-mortem to the Capital Hospital. After the completion of the procedure, the body will be handed over to the family.

Police have been deployed on the campus to restore normalcy.