Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi spoke with Nepali Counsellors Sanjeeb Das Sharma and Navin Raj Adhikari, assuring them that justice will be served in the case of the deceased KIIT student, Prakriti Lamsal. Majhi also assured that peace and normalcy would be restored on the KIIT campus. The CM urged Nepali students to return to campus and resume their studies. A discussion was held at the State Guest House here with officials from Nepal, attended by Ministers Mukesh Mahaling and Suryabanshi Suraj, along with Chief Secretary Manoj Ahuja, to ensure the restoration of normalcy at KIIT. Additionally, the Foreign Minister of Nepal Dr. Arzu Rana Deuba spoke with Odisha’s Higher Education Minister Suraj over the phone regarding the matter. It is pertinent here to mention that the Odisha government on Tuesday constituted a high-level fact-finding committee under Additional Chief Secretary to Government, Home Department along with Principal Secretary, Women and Child Development and Commissioner cum Secretary, Higher Education Department for enquiry into the alleged ill-treatment meted out to other students from the neighbouring country by the authorities of the KIIT University in Bhubaneswar. The Odisha government has deployed a senior official at the KIIT University to restore normalcy on the campus.
The city police on Tuesday apprehended five staffers of the private university on charges of assaulting the students hailing from Nepal. Notably, the deceased student Prakriti Lamsal, a third-year B.Tech (Computer Science) student of the KIIT University ended her life on Sunday following harassment by her estranged boyfriend Advik Shrivastava, a student of B.Tech (Mechanical). Police arrested the accused from Bhubaneswar Airport while he was trying to flee the city on Monday. Meanwhile, the students who staged a protest demanding justice for the deceased were asked to leave the campus. The authorities of the private university forcefully evicted the students from the campus and also allegedly assaulted them. The university after drawing flak from all corners issued an apology letter over the incident and urged the students to return to the campus. Two senior hostel officials and one senior administrative officer of the International Relations Office of the university have also been suspended pending an enquiry.
