Odisha police’s crime branch has sought the help of Fakir Mohan (Autonomous) College authorities to identify two girls seen with the 20-year-old student who set herself on fire outside the principal’s chamber on July 12.

The second-year integrated B.Ed student had resorted to self-immolation after allegedly failing to get redressal from the college authorities on the sexual harassment complaint she had filed against the head of the education department, Samir Sahoo. She succumbed to her injuries on July 14 at AIIMS Bhubaneswar.

While both the head of the department and the college principal have been suspended and sent to jail, the crime branch is now trying to trace the individuals who may have “instigated” the student to take the extreme step after the authorities failed to act on her complaint.

The girl’s death has put the BJP government in an uncomfortable position as she was reportedly an active member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the RSS.

As part of its intensified investigation, the crime branch has collected CCTV footage from petrol pumps in Balasore, from where petrol was allegedly purchased, and from the college premises. The footage reportedly shows the presence of two unidentified girls with the victim.

The duo has been missing since the incident. Following a request from the crime branch, the college authorities have circulated the girls’ images on WhatsApp groups and urged students to share any information they may have.

The authorities said the two girls do not appear to be students of the college. “The statements of these two girls are likely to help crack the case,” officials said.

Director-general (DG), crime branch, Vinaytosh Mishra said: “Justice will be served. We have collected a lot of evidence from the spot and CCTV footage. Scientific analysis of the footage is being done with the help of the experts of the state forensic science laboratory.”

On the other hand, Orissa High Court has turned down the demand for a court-constituted Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the self-immolation case.

A bench of Chief Justice Harish Tandon and Justice Manash Ranjan Pathak observed: “Since the SIT has already been constituted by the state as disclosed by the learned advocate-general and the investigation is monitored by the high ranking police officers, in absence of any incriminating materials coming before the court, we do not think that any SIT to be constituted under the judicial fiat at this stage...”

The bench further noted: “Constituting a SIT over the SIT constituted by the government may not be proper at the nebulous stage of the investigation unless it is perceived by the court from the materials produced before it that the investigation is misdirected.”

The state government is planning to install CCTV cameras in all government and private schools and has directed institutions to form Internal Complaints Committees under the provisions of the POSH (Prevention of Sexual Harassment) Act to address issues of sexual harassment and gender-based discrimination.