Even as Bhubaneswar police on Thursday, February 20, arrested five more staff of KIIT University in connection with the forced eviction of Nepali students, the Higher Education department directed its founder Achyuta Samanta to appear before the three-member inquiry panel on Friday.
The five staff have been charged with abuse and assault of foreign students while they were vacating their hostels after a sine die closure notice on February 17. They were produced before a local court which rejected their bail applications. With this, the total number of arrests in the case has gone up to 10, stated a report by The New Indian Express.
Meanwhile, police said it will conduct voice spectography of Advik Srivastava, the student who allegedly harassed the 20-year-old victim Prakriti Lamsal leading to her death by suicide. The voice sample will be sent to the State Forensic Science Laboratory.
The spectrography test aims to determine whether the male voice in one of the viral audio clips is that of the accused. In the clip, Srivastava can be heard hurling abuses at victim though it is yet to be ascertained when the conversation took place between the accused and the victim.
Commissionerate police said the investigation in the case has proceeded as per necessary protocol and all available evidence have been collected.
Meanwhile, as many as 222 Nepali students who had left the campus following the sine die notice reached the neighbouring country through different borders in the last two days. More than 700 students were on their way to Nepal by road or air.
Officials in Higher Education department said the help desk has started contacting and counselling the international students to return to the campus though their primary concern is safety.
"Many of those who want to return seek an undertaking from Odisha government about their safety. Discussions with all the students and their parents are underway," an official said. The special relief commissioner has also been asked to look into their safe return, according to a report by The New Indian Express.
Meanwhile, the students who are on their way to Nepal by trains through Patna were provided food, water and other essentials by students of Patna University.
