Bhubaneswar: The IG of Odisha Police Crime Branch, S Shyni, who was heading the probe into the self-immolation death of FM College student in Balasore, has gone on leave till August 15.
Crime Branch SP Anirudha Routray has been asked to head the investigation in her absence.
“IGP Shyni has gone on le
ave for personal work. Routray will supervise the Balasore student’s self-immolation death case,” Vinaytosh Mishra, DG, Crime Branch, told PTI.
The timing of her leave has, however, raised eyebrows.
The IG went on leave from Tuesday, a day after the arrest of two ABVP members for allegedly instigating the 20-year-old girl to set herself on fire on July 12 over alleged sexual harassment by a professor and institutional neglect. She succumbed to burn injuries on July 14 at AIIMS-Bhubaneswar.
Though Mishra asserted that Shyni’s leave had nothing to do with the arrest of the two student leaders, he parried a question on whether she will be involved in the investigation after joining office.
The Crime Branch took over the investigation into the death of the student by self-immolation on July 16. Four persons – two Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) members, the accused professor and a former principal of the college – have so far been arrested in the case.
The investigation revealed that Jyoti Prakash Biswal (19), a student of the college who was initially hailed as a hero for trying to save the girl, suffered burns while filming the incident on his mobile phone from close range. Besides him, Subhra Sambit Nayak (22), the state joint secretary of ABVP, was also arrested on Monday.
Shyni had then told the media that there was strong evidence of abetment to suicide against them.