Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba and Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak have pledged justice to Prakriti Lamsal, who was found dead at KIIT University in Odisha, India, last month.

Both the ministers made the promise when they met Lamsal’s parents and relatives in Bhairahawa on Monday and pledged justice for her, according to a statement issued by Deuba’s private secretariat.

Lamsal was found dead in her hostel room on February 16 allegedly due to harassment and blackmailing by a classmate. The matter was taken up by the KIIT students and protests erupted in Nepal and India. Following the incident, the governments of Nepal and India took up the matter with the state government of Odisha as well as the KIIT administration. The Odisha government has formed an inquiry committee over the suspicious death of Lamsal and summoned several serving officials of the KIIT.

Minister Deuba told the Lamsal’s parents that the government has taken several diplomatic initiatives to find out the truth about Lamsal’s death and has been urging to take strict action against the culprits as per the law.

She also said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Nepali Embassy in India are working with the Odisha government, the university administration and Indian security officials on the issue.

Lamsal was a B Tech third year student at the university.

On February 21, the committee interrogated KIIT founder and former BJD MP Achyuta Samanta for two-and-a-half hours. Along with him, the university’s vice-chancellor, registrar, and two suspended female staff members—Manjusha Pandey and Jayanti Nath—also appeared before the committee and recorded their statements.

A significant number of students studying in the college have returned to Nepal after Lamsal’s death. They say that they do not feel safe at the university. The Ministry of Education has issued a statement, warning that it may suspend No Objection Certificates (NOCs) for students wishing to study in Odisha if the matter is not resolved satisfactorily.

Foreign Minister Deuba said that she also spoke with Chief Minister of Odisha Mohan Charan Majhi, among other ministers concerned, and urged them to find out the truth behind the tragic incident and take strong action against those involved in it. She had also urged the officials to create a conducive and secured environment for Nepali students to continue the classes in the university campus.

“Through the diplomatic channel, I have already asked the Indian government to take action against the culprits and I am continuously following up on this issue,” the secretariat quoted Deuba as saying. “I, the home minister and the entire government will leave no stone unturned for delivering justice to Prakriti.”

“The chief minister of Odisha has said that the state of Odisha has taken the incident very seriously,” Deuba reportedly told Prakriti’s parents while consoling them. “In order to ensure justice to Prakriti, they have formed a high-level probe committee, which has already started its work.”