"Sent Daughter Here For Higher Studies": Father Of Nepal Student Who Died By Suicide At KIIT

The father of the Nepali student, whose body was found in her hostel on the KIIT campus in Odisha's Bhubaneswar, on Tuesday alleged that the private engineering institute "mistreated" undergraduates from the neighbouring country.

His comment comes after the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) was accused of evicting a group of Nepali students from their hostel, amid tension on the campus following the death of Prakriti Lamsal, a third-year B Tech student of the institute.

The engineering institute tendered an apology over the entire episode and claimed that it had "never done any disservice to its students".

Sunil Lamsal, the father of the deceased student, reached here this morning as the post-mortem examination of his daughter's body will be conducted at AIIMS, Bhubaneswar during the day, an official said.

“I have lost my daughter. Many other children are studying here. It is known from the media that some students were driven out of their hostel. This is not right. This incident should not be repeated. These people go to Nepal and invite students to study here. The institute mistreated them," Lamsal alleged.

He, however, reposed faith in the Odisha government and the police to get justice over the death of her daughter.

"I have sent my daughter here for higher studies. We hope that the government will ensure justice. We have faith in the government and the police administration here. We hope to get justice," Lamsal said.

KIIT said the institute was “extremely appalled” by the incident that took place on its campus on February 16 evening and was “regretful” of the behaviour of some of its staffers with agitating students.

“The comments made by two of our officers are extremely irresponsible. Although the comments are made on their personal capacity on the spur of the moment, we do not support their action,” the institute said in the statement.

KIIT said two security personnel were terminated from their service for allegedly beating up some students in the hostel during the agitation after the recovery of the Nepali student's body.

The institute authorities placed two senior hostel officials and one administrative officer of the International Relations Office (IRO) under suspension till the ongoing inquiry concludes.

“We apologise for all that has happened and hereby tender our love and affection to all the students and people of Nepal. We love them as much as we love the people of India and the people of the world. We are again appealing to our Nepali students to join the regular academics with immediate effect,” the KIIT statement said.

Prakriti Lamsal's body was recovered on Sunday evening from her hostel room.

The institute said, "It is suspected that the girl was having an affair with another student at KIIT, and she may have committed suicide for some reason." The incident gained attention after the deceased's cousin filed a complaint at Infocity Police Station in Bhubaneswar, alleging that his sister hanged herself in her hostel room on Sunday.

He claimed that a boy student at the institute had been blackmailing his sister, which, he believed, led to her suicide.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)