BALASORE/ BHUBANESWAR: The Crime Branch late on Sunday arrested two youths, including a student, in connection with the self-immolation death of a 20-year-old girl student of Fakir Mohan (Autonomous) College on the campus on July 12, who had alleged harassment by her Head of the Department (HoD).
The agency apprehended an FM College student identified as Jyoti Prakash Biswal and a non-student, Subhra Sambit Nayak, late on Sunday night on charges of instigating the girl to set herself on fire.
Biswal had sustained injuries when he attempted to rescue the victim. He was admitted to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack and was apprehended after being discharged, police said.
Subhra Nayak is the state joint secretary of ABVP, the student organisation of BJP.
With this, the number of arrests has gone up to four. Initially, Sahadevkhunta police had registered a case and arrested the Head of the Education Department, Samira Kumar Sahoo, and Principal Dillip Ghosh.
Amid a massive political slugfest, Odisha Police ordered a Crime Branch probe into the incident.
Immediately afterwards, the Crime Against Women and Children Wing (CAW&CW), a dedicated unit of the Crime Branch, took up the investigation.
The victim, a second-year B.Ed. student of the college, had set herself on fire outside Principal Ghosh’s chamber, alleging that her HoD, Sahoo, was harassing her for not complying with his demand for a ‘favour’.
She was declared dead late on the night of July 14 by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar.