Bhubaneswar: Ipshitaa Sahoo, state president of the Biju Chhatra Janata Dal (BCJD), was detained by police at Rama Devi Women's University in Bhubaneswar on Thursday while student union elections were underway.

Her detention triggered tension on the university campus as her supporters staged a protest, opposing the police action.

Reacting to her detention, Sahoo alleged that the police were attempting to suppress the voices of students across Odisha, including those at Rama Devi Women's University. Sahoo also claimed that she was illegally detained out of fear that Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) would lose the election.

"Stop police high-handedness and stop the murder of democracy," she said.

Sahoo said that the student community would respond to the suppression through democratic means.