Bhubaneswar: After registering a murder case, police have started probing the mysterious death of Abhishek Ravi, a first year B.Tech student at a privately-run Institute of Technical Education and Research (ITER), Bhubaneswar, under SOA deemed to be university here.
Investigation officer of the case visited the college on Thursday to question boarders and college staff regarding the case.
“So far, we have not received any prima facie evidence related to the student’s murder. Investigation is underway. We have registered the murder case on the basis of the complaint filed by father of the deceased,” said Tapas Pradhan, assistant commissioner of police. Initially, local police were probing the matter after registering an unnatural death case.
On Tuesday night, the case was converted into a murder case. Father of the deceased, Anup Chandra Ram, a resident of Doronda, Ranchi, alleged that his son was murdered. He also alleged that his son had faced ragging before his death.
Abhishek, who took admission in ITER on Sept 10, died on Sept 13. College authorities said he fell off the hostel staircase. He was taken to Sum Hospital where he died.
The deceased’s father had written a letter to Odisha governor Raghubar Das requesting his intervention. The governor took cognizance of the matter on Tuesday. On Monday, Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, in his X handle, urged the Odisha chief minister to conduct a high-level inquiry into the death of Ranchi boy in ITER Bhubaneswar.
Some social media users have posted a host of messages on X demanding justice for Abhishek Ravi. They alleged that Abhishek died because of brutal ragging on the campus. Police did not speak about this angle. College authorities denied the ragging complaint and dubbed the allegation as false and baseless.

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