“India is a sport-loving nation. For the Tokyo Olympics, the maximum viewership for the Olympic channel came from India. So imagine what would happen if we added cricket to it,” said Nita Ambani, Founder and Chairperson of Reliance Foundation, at the Harvard India Conference
As a university in Odisha was celebrating its three-day annual fest, a student’s body was discovered in her hostel room. Within hours, the discovery led to embassy-level talks between two countries. The death of Prakriti Lamsal, a 20-year-old Nepali student at Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) in Bhubaneswar set off a storm of allegations, arrests, diplomatic unease, and student unrest.
Prakriti, a third-year B.Tech (Computer Science) student, was found dead in her hostel room on Sunday afternoon. The police initially registered it as a case of suicide, but the circumstances surrounding her death triggered protests within the campus.
Students from Nepal demanded an inquiry and accountability from the university administration whom they accuse of ignoring Prakriti’s requests for intervention. Prakriti was allegedly being subjected to both physical and verbal abuse by Advik Shrivastava, a 21-year-old BTech (Mechanical) student of the same university. In an audio file, which went viral after Prakriti’s body was discovered, a man can be heard unleashing an expletives-ridden tirade against a woman who can be heard sobbing. The man forces the woman to call herself a “wh*r*” and even manipulates an apology out of her.
The audio features both individuals addressing each other as Advik and Prakriti, however, NDTV could not independently verify the clip.
Advik, a resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow, was arrested on Monday from outside Bhubaneswar’s airport and charged with abetment of suicide.
Prakriti’s body, after a post-mortem at AIIMS Bhubaneswar, has been handed over to her family. It will be flown to Nepal today. “I had sent my daughter for higher studies, trusting that she would be safe. What happened here is unacceptable,” said her father, Sunil Lamsal.
After Nepali students protested, KIIT University — founded and run by veteran Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader and former MP Achyuta Samanta — instead of engaging with the students, responded with force. Security personnel, along with senior university officials, allegedly manhandled protesting students, leading to a violent crackdown that was caught on camera.
Videos circulated on social media showed students being physically assaulted and subjected to verbal abuse. In one of those videos, two senior university officials were also seen making derogatory remarks against Nepal, with one of them claiming that the country’s GDP is lower than KIIT’s budget for the roughly 40,000 students that the university caters to.
#WATCH | Odisha: A https://t.co/jHgpcuG1h1 third-year girl student from Nepal was found dead in KIIT University (Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology) hostel in Bhubaneswar on 16th February. As per a notice issued by the University, the institute is hence closed sine die… pic.twitter.com/vVfgY140up
— ANI (@ANI) February 17, 2025
The protests continued overnight. Then the unexpected happened. With only days left for exams, all the Nepali students were told to leave the university premises.
“The University is closed Sine Die for all the International students from Nepal. They are hereby directed to vacate the university campus immediately today on 17th February 2025,” a university statement read.
The students were put on university buses and were sent packing to the railway station in Cuttack to fend for themselves. “They (KIIT) didn’t say anything, they just asked us to leave,” said one Nepali student.
The Odisha government on Tuesday formed a three-member fact-finding committee to investigate both the circumstances of Prakriti’s death and the university’s handling of student protests. The panel is led by the Additional Chief Secretary (Home), with members from the Higher Education and Women and Child Development departments.
State Higher Education Minister Suryabanshi Suraj admitted that KIIT authorities had failed to inform the government about the incident, including the forced eviction of foreign students. “The institution has been placed under notice, and appropriate legal and administrative action shall follow based on the findings of the fact-finding committee,” he said.
Mr Suraj questioned why Nepali students were de-boarded at Cuttack railway station and why the state government was kept in the dark about the unfolding crisis. He said that while around 100 Nepali students remain on campus, nearly 800 others have left for Nepal.
Including Advik, the Odisha Police have made six arrests in connection with both the student’s death and the violence against protesters. Among those detained are three senior university officials-Director General (HR) Sibananda Mishra, Director (Administration) Pratap Kumar Chamupaty, and Director of Hostels Sudhir Kumar Rath. Two security guards, Jogendra Behera and Ramakanta Nayak, were also arrested for their role in the violent crackdown.
Two separate cases have been filed. The first concerns the suicide and was registered based on a complaint from Prakriti’s cousin. The second was initiated by the police, following viral videos of security personnel assaulting students.
One KIIT faculty member, Manjusha Pandey, was heard claiming in the viral videos that KIIT “feeds and educates over 40,000 students for free,” an amount she suggested was equivalent to Nepal’s national budget. Another staff member, Jayanti Nath, was recorded shouting similar statements.
Both Ms Pandey and Ms Nath later issued public apologies. “My statements were made in the heat of the moment,” Ms Pandey said in a video message. “If my words hurt the sentiments of any Nepali students or people of Nepal, I sincerely apologise.”
@MEAIndia@PM_nepal_@DrSJaishankar@PMOIndia@MofaNepal@IndiaInNepal@EONIndia pic.twitter.com/zPsRL0wNm8
— Jayanti Nath (@JayantiNath6) February 18, 2025
KIIT also issued an apology and removed two of its officials from service, though it did not name them. The institute urged Nepali students to return to their hostels and resume their studies.
The Nepalese government, however, has not taken the issue lightly. In a strongly worded statement, it warned that it might suspend issuing No Objection Certificates (NOCs) for students seeking admission to universities in Odisha if the matter was not resolved in a “justifiable and legal way.”
Nepalese Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli personally intervened, stating that his government was handling the matter through diplomatic channels. “Our Embassy in New Delhi has dispatched officers to counsel affected students,” he announced.
The Nepalese Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the incident “unimaginable” and assured that it was in continuous contact with the Indian government and KIIT authorities. The Indian Embassy in Kathmandu also pledged to ensure the safety of Nepali students in India.
The controversy quickly turned into a political flashpoint in Odisha. The Congress party has demanded a judicial inquiry, while the ruling BJP – which came to power in Odisha for the first time in history after their shock win over the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD in the Assembly elections last year – has called for the arrest of KIIT founder Achyuta Samanta. The BJD, in turn, has blamed the incident on deteriorating law and order under the BJP-led state government.
The issue was also raised in the Odisha Assembly, with MLAs across party lines condemning the incident. “The developments at KIIT have brought a bad name to the state, and this cannot be tolerated,” a Congress MLA said during the debate.
The name of Delhi’s new Chief Minister – the first from the Bharatiya Janata Party in the national capital in nearly three decades – will be announced by this evening, party sources told NDTV Wednesday morning.
The selection process will begin at noon, when the BJP’s Parliamentary Board – its highest decision-making body – meets to decide ‘observers’ for the gathering of newly-elected legislators later today.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi – whose trip to France and the United States delayed the selection process – is expected to attend this meeting at the BJP’s Delhi HQ.
The MLAs will then meet at 6.15 pm to select their leader in the Assembly, who will become the Chief Minister and will take his/her oath of office in a grand ceremony starting 11 am Thursday.
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The oath ceremony – to be held at the city’s iconic Ramlila Maidan – will run from 11 am to 12.34 pm, sources said. The oath itself will be at 12.05 pm.
Sources also said there will be three stages set up – one for the PM, Home Minister Amit Shah, Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena, and the new Chief Minister, a second for invited religious leaders, and a third for MPs and MLAs, of whom over 200, from the BJP and allies, have been invited.
Last week NDTV was told a shortlist of 15 names had been finalised, from among the 48 BJP MLAs, to fill the posts of Chief Minister, members of his/her cabinet, and Assembly Speaker.
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The odds-on favourite for the big post is two-time ex-MP Parvesh Verma, who defeated AAP boss and former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to win the New Delhi constituency.
Others likely on the BJP’s chief ministerial shortlist are the party’s Delhi unit leader, Virendra Sachdeva, and Bansuri Swaraj, a first-time MP who is the daughter of the late former Union Minister Sushma Swaraj. Satish Upadhyay, the BJP’s Brahmin face in Delhi, is also an option.
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There has also been buzz that the BJP could pick a woman as Chief Minister. Four of the BJP’s new MLAs are women – Neelam Pahalwan, Rekha Gupta, Poonam Sharma, and Shikha Roy.
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Ms Pahalwan was the first woman MLA from Najafgarh seat, Ms Gupta is the former President of the Delhi University Students’ Union, Ms Sharma won the Wazirpur seat, and Ms Roy emerged as another -giant slayer’, defeating senior AAP leader and Saurabh Bharadwaj for the Greater Kailash seat.
And there are caste equations, something which the BJP has historically considered when selecting Chief Ministers; similar delays after wins in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan in 2023 are an example.
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Four of the new MLAs are from Scheduled Castes – Raj Kumar Chauhan, elected from Mangolpuri; Ravikant Ujjain from Trilokpuri; Ravinder Indraj Singh from Bawana; and Kailash Gangwal from Madipur.
Suspense over Delhi’s next Chief Minister has been building since the afternoon of February 8, when it became apparent the BJP had scripted a remarkable return to power in Delhi.
Mr Modi’s party – which had been kept at bay in Delhi for 26 years, first by the Congress and then the AAP – swept 48 of the city’s 70 Assembly seats en route to victory.
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For context, the party managed a combined 11 in the two previous Delhi elections.
The AAP, looking to win a third straight term, found itself dragged down by attacks targeting party boss Arvind Kejriwal over the ‘sheeshmahal‘ and liquor excise policy scandals, and won 22 seats.
Again, for context, the party dominated the 2015 and 2020 polls, winning 67 and 62 seats.
The Congress was routed for a third consecutive election.
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