Chhattisgarh student found dead at Odisha’s KIIT varsity, 3rd suicide case in 9 months

A first-year computer science student allegedly died of suicide at the Bhubaneswar-based Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) in Odisha; this is the third such case in less than nine months.

The body of the deceased, Rahul Yadav, a native of Chhattisgarh, was recovered from his hostel room after his locked room was broken open on Sunday night. His body was found hanging from the ceiling fan.

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Prima facie, it appears to be a case of suicide. Further investigation is underway to ascertain the exact cause and circumstances of the death, a senior police official said on Monday.

A 20-year-old engineering student from Nepal was found dead on 16 February in her hostel room on 16 February, triggering widespread student unrest.

The visuals of students of Nepal being forcibly evicted from the university hostel and being manhandled later went viral on social media platforms, drawing outrage from several quarters, including the Nepal PM and diplomats of the neighbouring country.

An embarrassed Odisha Government later constituted a high-level inquiry fact-finding committee to probe the incident, which the Government described as ‘most unfortunate’. However, the findings of the probe are yet to be made public

In the second student-suicide case at the private university, a 20-year-old Nepalese student of the private university allegedly committed suicide by hanging from the ceiling fan of her hostel room on 1 May.