Two persons, including the state joint secretary of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, were arrested on Monday in connection with the death of a college student who set herself on fire in Odisha’s Balasore, India Today reported.

The ABVP is the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the parent organisation of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

The 20-year-old undergraduate student had set herself on fire on July 13 after her complaint of sexual harassment by a faculty member at Fakir Mohan Autonomous College allegedly went unaddressed.

She died two days later with 90% burn injuries.

ABVP leader Subhat Sandeep Nayak and Jyoti Prakash Biswal were allegedly present when the student set herself on fire outside the principal’s office, police officials told the news outlet.

It was not immediately clear how the two persons were linked to the matter.

However, The Indian Express and PTI quoted an unidentified Crime Branch officer as alleging that the two persons had instigated the student “to take the extreme step”.

Biswal had also sustained injuries while attempting to rescue the student who had set herself on fire, The Hindu reported.

Just before the incident, the student had met Principal Dilip Ghosh to follow up on her complaint against Assistant Professor Samir Kumar Sahu.

The incident had sparked widespread outrage and political unrest in Odisha.

Sahu was arrested on July 13 and sent to judicial custody. He was charged with abetment to suicide, criminal intimidation, sexual harassment, stalking and outraging the modesty of a woman.

Investigators have also found that Sahu allegedly mobilised a group of students against the complainant to pressure the administration into taking action against her, India Today reported.

On July 15, the police arrested Ghosh on charges of abetment to suicide. The state higher education department had suspended him a day earlier for alleged negligence.

The student had first submitted a written complaint to the college’s internal complaints committee on June 30, accusing Sahu of seeking “undue and inappropriate favours” and threatening to jeopardise her academic future if she refused. She also said she had been stopped from attending classes and was under severe mental stress.

On July 1, she filed a police complaint, on which no action was reportedly taken.

Her father had alleged that instead of taking disciplinary action, the principal pressured her to withdraw the complaint.

Responding to questions about the delay in taking action, Balasore Superintendent of Police Raj Prasad had earlier said that the police had approached the internal complaints committee after receiving the complaint.

The committee had said that it would submit a report within five days, he claimed.

Also read: Odisha student’s death by suicide shows how India is still failing women