A second student from Nepal is suspected to have died by suicide at the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) in Odisha in three months, prompting the government of the neighbouring country to seek a thorough probe.

Prisa Sah, 18, a first-year BTech computer science student, was found hanging from the ceiling fan of her hostel room late on Thursday. On February 16, third-year BTech student Prakriti Lamsal from Nepal had also been found hanging in the same hostel on the campus.

Nepal foreign minister Arzu Rana Deuba wrote on X on Friday: “Immediately after the incident, the ministry of foreign affairs initiated diplomatic initiatives to investigate the truth of the incident through high-ranking officials of the government of India, the government of Odisha, and the Nepali embassy in Delhi.

“The incident of Prisa Sah, a Nepali student studying at KIIT in Odisha, India, being found dead in her hostel room has left us deeply saddened.”

The ambassador of Nepal to India, Shankar P. Sharma, posted on X: “We are closely coordinating with the MEA, Odisha govt, police and the university for a thorough investigation.”

The external affairs ministry said it had been in constant touch with the Odisha government soon after it came to know about the death. “The state government has extended full support to the family of the deceased and a thorough inquiry is being conducted by the Odisha police,” the ministry said.

Police commissioner S. Dev Datta Singh said that when the hostel authorities were taking attendance of the students in the evening, one of the girls did not respond. “When the authorities probed, the student was found hanging. The forensic team is inspecting the room. The friends of the girl and the hostel authorities are cooperating with us,” he said.

“We have not got any suicide note, but the forensic team is going through her belongings and diary. Her friends are being questioned. We have informed the embassy about the death, and they intimated her parents,” he said, adding that the postmortem will be done only after her parents arrive here.

The University Grants Commission has constituted a fact-finding committee under the chairmanship of Nageshwar Rao, a former vice-chancellor of Ignou, to look into the student suicide cases at KIIT, Bhubaneswar, and suggest measures to prevent such incidents. The committee will submit a report within 10 days.