Bhubaneswar: TheOdisha Police Crime Branch team, which has started its probe into the death of a woman student of Fakir Mohan (Autonomous) College, Balasore, visited the deceased student’s native village in Bhogarai area in Balasore district. The CB IG, S Shyni, and DSP Iman Kalyan Nayak, went to the house of the student and met her parents and brother.

“The CB has taken up the case for investigation. We will handle the case with utmost fairness and professionalism. At this stage, we prefer not to disclose further details of the investigation,” Inspector General (IG) Shyni told reporters in Balasore.

As the deceased student’s family alleged that she poured petrol on her body before setting herself afire, the CB’s investigating team visited a petrol outlet near FM College in Balasore and collected CCTV footage from the filling station. “The Crime Branch has taken CCTV footage of three days from July 11 to 13 on a pen drive,” the petrol pump owner said. The CCTV footage could help the investigating agency to know whether the victim herself collected petrol or someone took it for her.

In a related development, the victim woman student’s close friend told mediapersons that the accused HoD had mobilised the support of nearly 300 students to defend himself in the sexual harassment case. Only 15-20 students stood by the victim. “She was feeling isolated in the fight against the HoD as her department batchmates supported the accused and not her,” one of her friends said. The victim’s roommate, Srabani Das, also a student of FM College, told television channels that she had no plans to commit self-immolation.