New Delhi:
The absconding principal of the Dharmasati Gandaman Primary School in Chhapra, Bihar, where contaminated mid-day meals cost 23 students their lives, today moved court for bail. Principal Meena Devi, who has been absconding ever since the incident, has been charged with murder and criminal conspiracy in the First Information Report or FIR in the case.
The Saran Police today put up a notice at her residence asking her to present herself before the police, failing which, her property would be attached.
A probe report by Saran Commissioner Shashi Shekhar Sharma and DIG Vinod Kumar submitted to the government has found the principal responsible for the tragedy.
Meanwhile, the primary school, which has been tagged with the government middle school in the same village, is yet to start functioning at its new location.
District Education Officer Shyamdeo Paswan told PTI that there were two teachers in the primary school, including the principal. The second teacher, who was absent on the day of the incident, is undergoing treatment for some medical problem in Patna.
He said in the rest of the schools in the district the mid-day meal programme is going on as per the new instructions of the government that includes mandatory provision of the principal and teacher tasting the food before it is served to the students.
Meanwhile, the 24 children and a woman cook Manju Devi admitted at Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) after the mid-day meal tragedy is still under observation.
"They will be in PMCH for another 4-5 days before the doctors are fully satisfied about their health," hospital superintendent Amarkant Jha Amar said.