Police yesterday arrested the head of a school in eastern India where 23 children died after eating a free meal laced with a lethal pesticide, an officer said.
The children, aged four to 12, fell ill within minutes of eating the lunch of lentils, potatoes and rice cooked at their primary school in a poverty-stricken village in Bihar state on July 16.
"The principal surrendered... and we have arrested her for questioning," said Sujeet Kumar, police chief of Saran district where the incident occurred.
"We need to talk to her first before framing charges," the official said by telephone.
Police have been searching for the teacher, Meena Devi, who apparently fled shortly after the tragedy in Gandaman village, which also left some 30 children ill in hospital and sparked angry street protests.
Saran district administrator Abhijit Sinha told AFP that the teacher was key to resolving the issue of just how the deadly chemicals ended up in the food.
Indian villagers carry the dead body of a child who died of food poisoning, after consuming a midday meal served in a government primary school, at the school in the state of Bihar in Saran district on July 18, 2013. - AFP
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