TV
A third-year Mechanical Engineering B.Tech international student from Nepal, Prakriti Lamsal, of KIIT University in Bhubaneswar allegedly took her own life on Sunday. In the days that followed, unprecedented chaos and alleged mismanagement by the university authorities have come to light.
The incident has also drawn sharp reactions from the Embassy of Nepal in New Delhi and the Prime Minister of Nepal, KP Sharma Oli. Amid all of this, here is the sequence of events that allegedly drove Prakriti Lamsal to take the extreme step.
Broken Relationship, Abuse, And Blackmail:
In the hours after her death, students of KIIT University launched widespread protests on the campus demanding access to Prakriti Lamsal’s mobile phone and laptop. Soon after, friends of the deceased came forward with claims that her ex-boyfriend Advik Srivastava reportedly abused and harassed her, causing extreme mental agony.
A friend of Lamsal, on the condition of anonymity, stated that Srivastava threatened to leak intimate photos and clips of him and Lamsal. Further claims stated that the accused repeatedly blackmailed her and demanded sexual favours, all while maintaining an abusive relationship.
A phone call between the two was also leaked on social media, in which Srivastava could be heard continuously abusing and hurling expletives at Lamsal. He also used derogatory terms to refer to her and even asked her to repeat some of those. At multiple times in that phone call, the deceased could be heard breaking down into tears.
Advik Srivastava was subsequently arrested by Bhubaneswar police while reportedly trying to board a flight to Lucknow.
Inaction by KIIT University?
Friends of Prakriti Lamsal alleged that she had reached out to the International Relations Office (IRO) multiple times, seeking help for the repeated blackmail and harassment by her ex-boyfriend. Unfortunately, she was allegedly not taken seriously by the KIIT authorities, which led to an ever-increasing mental burden for her.
Unable to find help from the university, and with the alleged unabated harassment from her ex-boyfriend, Prakriti Lamsal allegedly took her own life. She was found dead at the KIIT University hospital premises on Sunday.
While KIIT University has yet to respond to the allegations brought by the KIIT students, the university issued a notice on Tuesday stating that the "authorities and the entire staff deeply regret the incident". It also stated that two security staff were terminated immediately while two senior hostel officials and one senior administrative officer of the International Relations Office (IRO), were suspended, pending thorough enquiry.
