At least 159 students from Odisha’s Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology have returned to their homes in Nepal, days after a Nepali student died reportedly by suicide on campus, PTI reported on Saturday.

The development comes amid claims of misconduct by the university’s management toward those protesting the death.

Suman Kumar Karki, the assistant chief district officer in Nepal’s Parsa, said that 159 Nepali students had returned to their homes till Thursday evening from the Raxaul border point, located in Bihar’s East Champaran district.

A group of students who had returned to Nepal told reporters that they were subjected to “inhuman treatment” at Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology after the alleged suicide. “We were abused and got inhuman treatment,” PTI quoted the students as saying.

“We were beaten up by security guards in the presence of university teachers and other staff and asked to vacate the hostel immediately,” the students added.

The 20-year-old student was found dead in the university hostel on February 16. The third-year Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science student was believed to have died by suicide due to a suspected “strained relationship” and the harassment that she allegedly faced from a male batchmate on campus.

On February 17, 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 that he was blackmailing the girl.

The alleged suicide also triggered tensions on campus. About 500 Nepali students at the university claimed that they had been forcibly evicted from campus on February 17 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.

However, the order asking students to vacate the campus was revoked on February 17 amid pressure as the incident had triggered a diplomatic row between Kathmandu and New Delhi.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.

Students also alleged that the management of the private university physically assaulted Nepali students who were protesting the incident. On Tuesday, three university officials and two security guards of Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology were arrested over the handling of the protest.

Meanwhile, Nepali Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba on Thursday said that her government had resolved the issue about the death of the Nepali student through diplomatic channels, PTI reported.

“The Nepal government has resolved the problem surrounding the death of a Nepali student in KIIT Odisha through diplomatic channels by handling the situation seriously,” she said.

Deuba added that she had talked to Odisha Higher Education Minister Suryabanshi Suraj about the matter and urged him to ensure an impartial investigation into the death of the student and the creation of a safe environment for Nepalese students to return to their classes.

“After our response, the college has apologised for the incident and taken action against its staff who misbehaved with Nepalese students,” she added.

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.