Rourkela: Two days after setting herself on fire, the 18-year-old female student succumbed to critical burns while undergoing treatment at Ispat General Hospital (IGH) in Odisha’s Rourkela late on Sunday night.
Sources said the girl, identified as Shruti Toppo, had sustained over 90 per cent burns after she poured kerosene and set herself afire late on Friday. Her body has been kept in the mortuary, and police will hand it over to her family after the post-mortem on Monday.
The girl, who was a Plus III second year student from Lanjiberna in Rajgangpur of Sundargarh district, had reportedly taken the extreme step after being harassed and stalked by a youth for a long time. The accused, identified as Nilesh Sahu (25) of Budakata village under the jurisdiction of Kutra police station, has already been arrested.
Health and Family Welfare Minister Mukesh Mahaling had visited the student at the IGH on Sunday and spoken to the team of doctors treating the girl to enquire about her health condition.
The possibility of advanced treatment of the girl was also discussed with the Director of AIIMS Bhubaneswar and a team of specialists there. Later, the minister had met the student’s mother and other family members and assured them of all possible support.
Preliminary findings showed that Shruti was repeatedly being harassed by Nilesh for over last two years. On December 5, Shruti was at home when she set herself on fire. Her mother had stated that the family was asleep when they woke up to her screams and found her in flames.
