Odisha Police files charge-sheet in Balasore student self-immolation death case

Bhubaneswar/Balasore (Odisha), Sep 9 (PTI) The Crime Branch of Odisha Police on Tuesday filed a preliminary charge-sheet against the accused persons over the death by self-immolation of a 20-year-old female student of Balasore's FM (Autonomous) College.

The investigating officer of the Crime Against Women and Children Wing (CAWCW) of the state police, Iman Kalyani Nayak, submitted a 504-page charge-sheet containing statements of 120 witnesses, at the court of sub-divisional judicial magistrate (SDJM), Balasore, a senior official said.

The police have collected important clues, including digital evidence, from various gadgets.

"In view of the collection of further evidence and the involvement of multiple persons, the police have kept the case open," the official said.

The female student of the Integrated B.Ed course on July 12 resorted to self-immolation, demanding justice over alleged sexual harassment by the head of the department.

She died while undergoing treatment at AIIMS Bhubaneswar on July 14, sparking nationwide outrage.

Police arrested assistant professor Samira Kumar Sahoo on July 12 and the then principal, Dillip Ghose, on July 14, both on the charge of abetment to suicide.

The Crime Branch took over the investigation from the local police after the death of the woman.

The Crime Branch on August 3 arrested Subhra Sambit Nayak, the state joint secretary of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), and Jyotiprakash Biswal, a student of the college, who also sustained injuries while rescuing the girl. Both were also accused of abetment to suicide, and they had filmed the student setting herself ablaze.

They were also accused of conspiring and inciting the victim to immolate herself.

The investigation is underway, and the case has been kept open, an official added. PTI COR AAM AAM ACD