Another Nepalese student found dead at Odisha's KIIT
What's the story
An 18-year-old Nepalese undergraduate student was found dead in her hostel room at the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) in Bhubaneswar on Thursday.
This is the second death of a Nepalese student at the university in three months.
The victim, pursuing Computer Science B.Tech program, was from Birgunj, about 135km from Kathmandu.
Investigation
Body discovered under suspicious circumstances
The student's body was discovered hanging from the ceiling fan in her hostel room.
Police and university officials were alerted at about 8:00pm after which forensic teams were sent to the site.
Bhubaneswar Police Commissioner Suresh Dev Datta Singh said, "Prima facie, it appears to be a suicide case as she was found in a hanging position inside a locked room. All evidence has been collected."
Past case
Previous incident sparks protests
In February, a third-year B.Tech student from Nepal, Prakriti Lamsal, was found dead in her hostel room under similar circumstances.
Her death triggered widespread protests by the Nepalese student community and criticism of the university's response to complaints of sexual harassment.
Students claimed that a fellow student had harassed her and that the college had failed to respond despite many complaints.
The accused student was arrested on February 17.
Official statements
Government and diplomatic response
Odisha's Department of Information and Public Relations extended condolences and promised a thorough probe into the latest incident.
Nepal's Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba also confirmed that diplomatic channels have been activated for a transparent investigation.
Meanwhile, student organizations of the Nepalese community in India termed the incident a "disturbing pattern" of negligence and failure in student welfare at KIIT.
They have demanded an impartial and speedy investigation into the cases