Balasore, Odisha: Two men have been arrested in Odisha’s Balasore district for allegedly instigating a 20-year-old college student to take her own life by setting herself on fire, police said on Monday.

The arrests were made late on Sunday by the Crime Branch of the Odisha Police in connection with the young woman’s death last month.

What led to her death?

According to officials, the victim -- a student at Fakir Mohan (Autonomous) College -- had filed a sexual harassment complaint against the head of the Integrated B.Ed department. However, the college’s internal enquiry committee reportedly did not validate her complaint.

In an apparent act of desperation, the student poured petrol over herself and set herself ablaze on 12 July. She sustained 95% burn injuries and succumbed to them two days later while undergoing treatment at AIIMS Bhubaneswar.

Who has been arrested now?

The two arrested individuals have been identified as Jyoti Prakash Biswal, a fellow student who had attempted to save her and was injured in the process, and Subhra Sambait Nayak, the state joint secretary of a student organisation. Biswal had recently been discharged from SCB Medical College Hospital in Cuttack after treatment.

They were both detained from their homes late on Sunday and presented before the Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) in Balasore. Their bail pleas were rejected, and they have been remanded to 14 days of judicial custody.

This development follows the earlier arrests of assistant professor Samira Kumar Sahoo and former principal Dillip Ghose, both charged with abetment of suicide.