KIIT Student Suicide: Security measures have been strengthened at Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) in Bhubaneswar following the suicide of a Nepali student. Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Police Commissioner Suresh Dev Datta Singh has confirmed that the student had committed suicide after facing harassment by a third-year Mechanical Engineering student. The accused, 21-year-old Lucknow boy Advik Srivastava, has been arrested.
"we received information about the incident of suicide by a 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 die by suicide, so we arrested the accused person; we examined him, and today, he has been forwarded to judicial custody", said the Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Police Commissioner Suresh Dev Datta Singh, as reported by news agency ANI.
The incident has sparked protests from over 500 Nepali students on campus, which intensified when university authorities attempted to evict them forcibly. The situation has led to intervention by the Nepalese government, as well as responses from Indian officials.
Reports and complaints made by Lamsal's cousin, Siddhant Sigdel, indicate that she had been persistently harassed by Srivastava, which allegedly forced her to take her own life.
Moreover, a purported audio recording of a conversation between the two went viral, where a man's voice was heard verbally harassing and abusing the woman.
Around the evening of 16 February, police detained Srivastava near Biju Patnaik International Airport while reports indicated he was attempting to leave the city.
Srivastava has been arrested and brought under the charge of Section 108 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for abetment of suicide. Police also confiscated Lamsal's cell phone and laptop for forensic examinations.
