BHUBANESWAR: The state Crime Branch’s Crime Against Women and Children Wing (CAW&CW) team led by IG, S Shyni, reached Balasore on Thursday to supervise the investigation of the FM Autonomous College incident, which has created a nationwide furore.
On Wednesday, Odisha Police had ordered a Crime Branch probe into the circumstances that led to the girl student to take the extreme step of self-immolation.
Crime Branch sources said, the team will collect the FIR copy which was originally registered with Sahadevkhunta police along with the recorded statements of the victim’s seven to eight friends. The agency has received information that the prime accused and HoD of Teacher Education Samira Kumar Sahoo had faced similar allegations during his previous postings in Koraput and Keonjhar colleges.
“CAW&CW will verify whether Sahoo had harassed students in the colleges where he was previously posted. It will also look into how he managed to mobilise a large number of students to meet the principal to lodge a complaint against the victim immediately after she approached the college’s internal complaints committee (ICC) requesting to take action against him,” said sources.
The agency will also investigate why the college principal did not flag the issue with the Higher Education department and take preventive measures like changing Sahoo’s department or ask him to go on leave until the ICC’s inquiry against him was pending.
There were also allegations that the local police did not act even after finding out from the victim that Sahoo was harassing her. “She did not lodge a complaint with the police. However, the police had knowledge that she had approached the college’s ICC but they did not inquire from the principal whether he had received its report or not,” said sources.
CAW&CW will also try to find out if anyone provoked the victim to immolate herself. It has already questioned the victim’s friend who attempted to rescue her after she set herself on fire.