Bhubaneswar: Assuring that justice will be delivered in fair manner in the death case of Nepali girl student — Prakriti Lamsal at KIIT (Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology), the Odisha Government announced its decision to form a High-level Fact Finding Committee to look into the matter.

The Committee comprises of the Additional Chief Secretary of Home Department, Principal Secretary of Women and Child Development Department and Commissioner-cum-Secretary of Higher Education Department as Members.

Government Official sources said appropriate legal and administrative action will be taken on basis of the report of the fact finding committee.

The KIIT University has already been served a notice, the sources added. 

The Official sources further informed reports of misconduct including the use of force against students by private individuals are being investigated into. Those who will be found responsible will face action as per the law.

Earlier in the day, the KIIT University authorities tendered an apology for the misbehaviour meted out by two of its staff to some students protesting over the incident.

The Bhubaneswar-based private University also removed the two women employees — Manjusha Pandey and Jayanti Nath from the service, stating that their comments were extremely irresponsible and were made in their personal capacity on the spur of the moment.

Also, two security staff were removed from service as they were accused of thrashing some of the Nepali students. The two security guards, identified as Ramakanta Nayak (45) and Jogendra Behera (25), were arrested and a criminal case was registered against them.

The alleged suicide of Prakriti Lamsal (20) occurred in the hostel of the KIIT University on February 16 evening. She was a third-year Computer Science student.

On the basis of a complaint lodged by Siddhant Sigdel (24), the cousin of Prakriti and a third-year B.Tech (Mechanical) student of KIIT, the Commissionerate of Police arrested Advik Srivastava (21), a third-year B.Tech (Mechanical) student, for allegedly harassing the girl, which led to her suicidal death.

When students were protesting demanding justice for Prakriti, the two women employees of KIIT — Manjusha Pandey and Jayanti Nath made objectionable and insulting remarks at the students.

Furthermore, the two security guards assaulted some of the students.

The University yesterday asked all the Nepali students to vacate hostels. However, it later urged them to return to the campus.