Second Death At Odisha’s Bhima Bhoi Medical College; Family Cries ‘Murder After Ragging’

Balangir: A day after a medical student died after falling from the roof of the hostel at Bhima Bhoi Medical College and Hospital (BBMCH) in Odisha’s Balangir, a scientific team on Saturday inspected hostel room number 312 and collected some documents, a diary and other articles for verification.

While the police are yet to ascertain if it is a case of suicide or murder, the family has alleged that he was murdered after being subjected to ragging and harassment at the college hostel.

“My son was psychologically tormented and later murdered. He had cleared NEET without any coaching in the first attempt. Due to ragging and torture by seniors, he was not able to concentrate on studies and prepare his schedule,” said Nishant’s mother, who reached Balangir along with other family members on Saturday.

The family members further alleged that the seniors had made some WhatsApp groups and used to call the juniors for ragging late in the night.

According to sources, the first-year MBBS student from Haryana, Nishant Kumar, had taken admission in the MCH a month back and was residing at the four-storey New Boys Hostel. On Friday, he went to the hostel terrace around 2 pm after having lunch. A few minutes later, hostel inmates got to know that he had fallen off the roof and sustained critical injuries. They rushed him to the hospital where doctors declared him brought dead.

The student’s uncle, Rabindra, had earlier told the media that he had recently mentioned ragging while speaking to his parents. “My nephew had shared that he was being ragged for the last four days. This might have led him to take the extreme step or somebody could have pushed him off the roof,” he said.

The medical college dean Sabita Mohapatra dismissed this allegation and said that a 10-member anti-ragging committee has been formed in the medical college. “Every day a group of faculty visits the boys and girls hostel for monitoring the situation in hostel rooms of first-year students. I have never heard about ragging in the hostel,” she added.

Balangir SDPO Tofan Bag said police are investigating the case from all possible angles. The exact cause of death will be known after the postmortem is conducted, he added.

Notably, a girl student had committed suicide in this state-run medical college, which is only four years old, by hanging from the hostel window in October last year.