Swayamsidha Sahoo

Cuttack, Jan. 9: Mystery shrouds the death of a 20-year-old college girl, who fell from the roof of the three-storey hostel building of Shailabala Women’s College here this morning. The girl, Swayamsidha Sahoo, was a Plus Three first-year student of zoology.

Though college authorities claim that the fall was “accidental”, the girl’s family has demanded a thorough probe, suspecting foul play. The incident occurred around 8.30am.

“My daughter could not have committed suicide. She was meritorious and mentally strong,” said the girl’s father, Hrudananda Sahoo, who claimed to have spoken to his daughter on Sunday night over the phone. “She told us that she was preparing for her exams scheduled for today,” he added.

Swayamsidha had informed her family four days ago that she did not like the environment in the hostel.

“We are not sure of any kind of ragging. But it cannot be suicide. There is something fishy and the police should investigate the matter,” Sahoo said.

Manorama Devi, principal of the college, said: “We have not received any official complaint regarding ragging in the hostel. The student’s death was the result of an accidental fall.”

Her roommates said Swayamsidha had studied till late on Sunday night. “We were studying till late and Swayamsidha went to sleep around 3am,” said Barsharani Hota, a roommate.

Priyambada Parida, another roommate, said she woke up at 6:30am and found all the girls in the room, including Swayamsidha, sleeping.

“Then I went to take a bath. When I came out, Swayamsidha was missing. I assumed that she must have gone to study on the top floor of the hostel like she usually did,” said Priyambada.

The college peon discovered her body. “I had gone out for tea and there some people engaged in construction work said they had seen someone fall from the hostel building,” said the peon, Nrusingha Charan Nanda.

Lalbagh police have registered a case of unnatural death and have begun investigation. Swayamsidha’s body has been sent for post-mortem, said deputy commissioner of police (Cuttack), S. Praveen Kumar.