Five employees of Odisha’s Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology were arrested on Tuesday over the handling of the protest triggered by the alleged suicide of a Nepali student on campus, India Today reported.

The three university officials and two security guards are accused of physically assaulting Nepali students who were protesting the alleged inaction by the institute’s administration despite the girl having sought help about the harassment she allegedly faced.

All five staffers were granted bail by a local court later on Tuesday.

They have been charged under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertaining to causing harm to a person, wrongful restraint, obscene acts and acting with common intention, The Indian Express reported.

A protest erupted on campus after the 20-year-old student was on Sunday found dead in the university hostel. The third-year Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science student allegedly died by suicide due to a suspected “strained relationship” and the harassment that she allegedly faced by a male batchmate on campus.

On Monday, the Bhubaneswar Police arrested the 21-year-old boy from Lucknow in connection with the alleged suicide. The first information report in the case alleges he was blackmailing the girl.

On Tuesday, the Odisha government set up a fact-finding commission, led by Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Satyabrata Sahu, to investigate the circumstances of the death of the student, the alleged misconduct by the university administration and the reasons for the institute to have directed Nepali students to vacate the campus.

“Our concern is the circumstances under which the institute declared sine die and why this decision specifically targeted Nepali students,” The Hindu quoted State Higher Education Minister Suryabanshi Suraj as saying. “Why were Nepali students dropped off at Cuttack Railway Station?”

About 500 Nepali students at the university claimed that they had been forcibly evicted from campus on Monday for protesting their batchmate’s death.

As protests escalated, the university administration had announced that the campus was closed for Nepali students, instructing them to vacate immediately, according to reports. Subsequently, Nepali students were told to board buses and were dropped at several railway stations for them to return home.

The order asking students to vacate the campus was revoked on Monday amid pressure as the incident triggered a diplomatic row between Kathmandu and New Delhi.

The institute said that it “has been actively encouraging students to return to campus” and had set up a control room to assist Nepali students. It also apologised on Tuesday for the comments made by the staff targeting Nepali students.

Suraj said the issue was not limited to the private university as the incident took place outside the campus and involves another country. He also questioned why the Higher Education Department had not been consulted by the institute.

The Mohan Majhi government in the state has instructed university officials to locate the Nepali students who were evicted from campus due to their protest and help their return. The university has also been directed to offer counselling to students affected by the incident, The Hindu reported.

The state government estimates that about 100 students returned to campus by 4 pm on Tuesday but that about 800 others were still in other parts of the state or were on their way to Nepal by bus.