Nepal girl’s death in KIIT University: Local goons assaulted hostel inmates, alleges student in viral audio

The days following the death of an international student from Nepal at the KIIT University in Bhubaneswar have opened a can of worms for the university management. Following allegations and viral footage of high-handedness and excessive use of force by KIIT security personnel, a video clip featuring its founder, Achyuta Samanta, interacting with and asking the agitating students to dismiss their protest has now come to the fore.

Along the same lines, a phone call recording made by one of the boys' hostel inmates to a relative describing the alleged sequence of events, including goons allegedly entering their rooms and assaulting them has been obtained by OTV.

The extensive phone call detailed that the students, starting Sunday evening, held an all-night-long protest. KIIT founder Achyuta Samanta was then stated to have reached the campus at around dawn in front of Campus-6 and allegedly said, “This is nothing serious. Such matters happen in any major university.”

To corroborate, the video clip obtained by OTV also featured Samanta talking with the protesting students. In this clip, he says, “The forensic report is not in our hands, it will be dealt with by the concerned authorities. I urge you all to return to your hostels and stop being adamant.”

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Moments later, the students can be heard raising their complaints including the release of the deceased’s mobile phone and laptop, fearing evidence tampering. Accordingly, the phone call also stated the same but went on to detail that chaos ensued soon after and in the commotion, Samanta allegedly fell to the ground.

The recorded call then stated that the founder allegedly warned the students with serious implications and soon, a lathi charge by university security staff was allegedly done.

Further, local goons allegedly entered the hostels and assaulted the students. “15-20 goons were on each floor of the hostel. They checked our phones and asked us to delete any photos or videos of the incident. Many were also beaten up and the students from Nepal were asked to pack up and leave immediately,” the boy could be heard alleging in the phone call.

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On Tuesday morning, the father and the relatives of the deceased girl arrived at the KIIT University campus in Bhubaneswar and demanded justice while stating that such matters could impact India-Nepal relations.

Till the last reports, KIIT University or Achyuta Samanta has yet to respond to all of the allegations brought up by the KIIT students.

However, 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 a thorough enquiry.