Bhubaneswar: Amid unrest on the premises of KIIT in Bhubaneswar over the alleged suicide of Nepali student Prakriti Lamsal (20) at the hostel of the university, Odisha Higher Education Minister Suryabanshi Suraj today said mid-semester exams of the university will be postponed.

Informing this during a discussion on the adjournment motion over the matter in the Odisha Assembly, Suraj also said that remedial classes will be conducted for the affected students.

He added that the Odisha government will bear the travel expenses of the students returning to the KIIT campus.

Prakriti, a third-year Computer Science student at KIIT, was found dead in a hostel room of the university on the evening of February 16. Following a complaint by Prakriti’s cousin Siddhant Sigdel (24), also a third-year B.Tech (Mechanical) student at KIIT, police arrested Advik Srivastava (21), a third-year B.Tech (Mechanical) student at the same university. He has been accused of harassing Prakriti, for which she allegedly died by suicide.

After Prakriti’s death, university students staged protests demanding justice for her. Initially, KIIT directed all Nepali students to vacate the hostels, but the institution later urged them to return to campus.

The Commissionerate Police have so far arrested 10 employees of KIIT, including two security guards, over their alleged involvement in harassing/ thrashing the Nepali students on February 17 while they leaving the campus as per the directive of the KIIT authorities.