Agartala: The Tripura government on Tuesday announced a CID probe into the death of a 17-year-old girl who committed suicide after being allegedly harangued for shoplifting at a hypermarket in the city.

Lahari Debbarma, 17, hanged herself at her residence Bir Mohan Chowdhury Para in Mohanpur subdivision of West Tripura, about 23km from here, on May 25.

Lahari had stood first in the commerce stream in the state in the CBSE class XII exam, the results of which were announced on May 26.

Deputy chief minister Jishnu Devvarma said he and two other cabinet colleagues visited the girl's home on Tuesday and announced Rs 5 lakh for her family.

Lahari's mother Dipali Debbarma filed an FIR on May 25 accusing the hypermarket and school authorities of abetment to suicide. Police interrogated executives of the hypermarket and the school and seized CCTV footage from both locations.

Devvarma said the case was being handed over to the CID for a thorough and fair investigation. "We are deeply pained at the loss. The government will provide Rs 5 lakh to the girl's family. Money can't bring her back but can help the family," he said.

On whether a government job would be granted to Lahari's mother, Devvarma said she has been serving as a contractual teacher in a private school and the government was ready to provide her any help she required.

Lahari's father expired two years back and her mother suffers from a brain tumour. She has a younger brother.

Law minister Ratan Lal Nath, who was part of the team that visited the girl's home, said director-general of police Akhil Kumar Shukla was asked to hand over the investigation to CID, which was being probed by district police.

Revenue minister N.C. Debbarma said his government would do everything necessary to identify the accused and bring them to justice.

West Tripura superintendent of police Ajit Pratap Singh said in the evening that they have interrogated the hypermarket authorities. "She entered the shopping complex at 11am and exited at 1pm. We have seized CCTV footage of the day and examined it. We have also seized her mobile phone and checked her messages. So far, no inconsistency has been found," he said.

Apparently an alarm went off when Lahari was exiting the mall and some new clothes were found in her possession. It is unclear whether those were billed. "We are looking into all aspects," Singh said.

He said rumours inciting violence were being spread over social media and urged the people to ignore them. The cyber crime unit has been engaged to track people involved in the campaign.

Activists of Students Federation of India (SFI), Tribal Students Union, All India Democratic Students Union and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) staged protests on Tuesday demanding punishment for the culprits.

Veteran Congress leader Gopal Chandra Roy said the state government was trying to hide the "culprits" and demanded strict punishment.

BJP spokesperson Mrinal Kanti Deb said he was confident the CID investigation would succeed in unearthing the truth and said the visit of senior cabinet members to the girl's home was "an unprecedented novel gesture".