Patna: The principal of a Bihar school, where 23 children died last month after eating contaminated food, was sent to judicial custody yesterday after she underwent a lie detector test, police said.
Meena Devi, principal of the government primary school at Gandaman village in Saran district, was sent to judicial custody till August 5 by a district court, Saran Superintendent of Police Sujit Kumar said. She is named as an accused in the case.
Meena Devi was taken on police remand Wednesday. The lie detector test or polygraph test was conducted on the principal by a team of the Patna-based Forensic Science Laboratory and New Delhi-based Central Forensic Science Laboratory.
The police officer said the test report was likely to be ready by next week.
The special investigating team probing the case had last month filed a petition before Chief Judicial Magistrate A K Jha asking for four days of police remand of the accused to conduct the polygraph test on her.
She has claimed innocence and denied her involvement in the tragedy.
Over 50 children fall ill
More than 50 children, mostly girls, were taken ill yesterday after drinking water from a hand pump at a school in Bihar’s Sitamarhi district. They are now out of danger, officials said.
The incident took place at the Kasturba Gandhi middle school in Runnisaidpur of Sitamarhi, a district police officer said.
It came a day after 30 children fell sick after drinking water from hand pumps at two separate schools in Saran and Gopalganj districts.
In the Sitamarhi incident, the children complained of pain in the stomach and started vomiting after drinking the water.
“All girl students admitted at SKMCH are out of danger and their condition is stable,” said Bindeshwari Kumar, a doctor at the hospital.
Education department officials claimed it “appears to be the handiwork of some anti-social elements as the hand pump might have been poisoned”.
IANS
