'Pack your bags and leave': KIIT officials caught threatening Nepali students after student's suicide; WATCH

Authorities at Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) have come under fire on social media after a video surfaced showing university officials threatening Nepali students, telling them to "pack your bags and just leave". The directive came after tensions escalated over the alleged suicide of a third-year B-Tech student from Nepal, Prakriti Lamsal, inside her hostel room on February 16.

In the video shared by OTV, a KIIT official can be heard saying, "You say you are not safe here. Pack your bags and go wherever you are safe. If I see any of you here, I'll take disciplinary action." She was also heard defending the institution's founder, stating, "Do not insult the founder of this university. The man is feeding 40,000 students for free. Such an amount would even be more than your country's entire budget."

The university issued a notice dated February 17, ordering all international students from Nepal to vacate the campus immediately. "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," the notice stated as per OTV.  

OTV reported that students were hurriedly forced to pack their belongings and were loaded onto university buses, which transported them to Cuttack railway station. They were ordered to leave for Nepal without tickets, accommodation, or financial assistance for their journey. "No train tickets or any directions have been provided to us. We were just loaded up on the hostel buses, sent to Cuttack, and ordered to leave for our homes at the earliest," a Nepali student told OTV.

Another student expressed distress over the abrupt eviction, stating, "With no tickets, no food, we have no clue how to reach home. We cannot even inform our parents as they will be worried. We have exams coming in one week, but they are sending us away. We suspect they are sending us to erase evidence."

Some students claimed that Lamsal, the student who died by suicide, had approached the university’s International Relations (IR) department seeking help for extreme mental distress but was not provided any assistance. "She reached out for help but was ignored. The pressure became unbearable, and she ultimately took her own life," one student claimed.

"She tried to save herself. A month before her tragic death, she reached out to the International Relations Office (IRO) at her college (KIIT  University) , desperate for help. She reported the abuse, the mental  harassment, and the unbearable suffering. But what did the college do? Nothing. They ignored her plea. They brushed aside her pain as if it  didn’t matter," another person claimed on X. 

The person claimed that a life was lost not just because of one person’s toxicity, but because of the negligence of the college that failed to act when they had the chance. "Now, instead of taking responsibility, the institution is trying to  twist the facts, protect its reputation, and cover up the truth. They use their tyrannical powers that is their KIIT personal security guards and hostel wardens to suppress any gathering and protest."

KIIT, in an official statement, acknowledged Lamsal's death and attributed it to a suspected "love affair" with another student. The university administration also justified the decision to send Nepali students home, stating that it was necessary to maintain order on campus following rising tensions. "Keeping in view the situation, the Nepal students have been sent to their respective homes. The situation presently remained calm," the university said.