A Nepali undergraduate student was found dead in her hostel room at the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) in Bhubaneswar on Thursday evening, marking the second such case involving a Nepali student on campus in under three months.
The deceased, a computer science student from Birgunj, Nepal, is suspected to have died by suicide, though the exact reasons remain unclear.
Police Commissioner S Devdutt Singh confirmed, “The girl was found dead in her hostel room. We are investigating the case.”
The death comes on the heels of a similar tragedy earlier this year, when another 20-year-old Nepali student reportedly died by suicide after facing alleged blackmail from a classmate and racial harassment on campus. That incident triggered widespread outrage.
Following that case, the accused, Advik Shrivastava, a third-year B.Tech student, was arrested at the Bhubaneswar airport while allegedly trying to flee the city. KIIT came under fire after it allegedly asked over 1,000 Nepali students to leave the campus, prompting diplomatic intervention from Nepal and India’s External Affairs Ministry.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), after probing the earlier case, held the university responsible for the chain of events. It stated that the student was sexually harassed and that the International Relations Office failed to act, violating the student’s right to equality and dignity.
In February, the Odisha government formed a high-powered committee to investigate allegations of misconduct and the reported use of force by university officials. The committee, headed by the state’s Additional Chief Secretary (Home), has not yet submitted its report.
