NEW DELHI: The school headmistress at the centre of one of India’s deadliest food poisoning outbreaks in years surrendered in the eastern state of Bihar on Wednesday and was taken into police custody, local media reported.
Earlier, As many as 20 school children in India had died after allegedly succumbing to food poisoning from a mid-day meal served by their school near the city of Chhapra in the northern state of Bihar.
“The doctors did their best to save the children, but there was so much poison in their food that the doctors couldn’t save them all,” said Abhijeet Sinha, Chhapra’s District Magistrate. Most of the children who died were under ten years of age, reports NDTV.
Another 35 children were admitted to a local hospital. The school children fell ill after consuming a meal of rice and vegetables, sources told The Times of India.
Villagers believed that the mustard oil used to cook the vegetables was “foul smelling” and could be the culprit behind the deadly reaction.
Lalu Prasad, a local MP, has said that the deaths were a result of poor quality food being supplied by an NGO in collusion with education department officials.
Authorities have suspended a food inspector and registered a case of criminal negligence against the school headmaster.
Police have been searching for the headmistress for more than a week in connection with the deaths of 23 children who died after eating a school meal contaminated with a pesticide that is banned in many countries.Finally The school headmistress at the centre of one of India’s deadliest food poisoning outbreaks in years surrendered in the eastern state of Bihar on Wednesday and was taken into police custody
Police say she is key to solving the mystery of how the pesticide ended up in the food.
