A woman foodgrains contractor has been arrested in connection with the food poisoning incident involving 73 students of a government-run residential school for girls in Buldana district of Maharashtra, police said today.
Pratibha Khillare, the foodgrain supply contractor, was arrested yesterday and booked under sections 272 (adulteration of food or drink intended for sale), 273 (sale of noxious food or drink) and 328 (causing hurt by means of poison) of the IPC besides two sections of Prevention of Food Adulteration Act.
The incident took place on July 28 night when students started complaining of stomach pain and vomiting. Two girls are undergoing treatment at Akola civil hospital.
A complaint in this regard was filed by Suhas Pankhas Nagapurkar, Assistant Commissioner of Social Welfare Department.
"The incharge of the hostel and the senior clerk A B Chavan has also been found prima facie guilty and the proposal to suspend him has been sent to commissioner Amravati," he said today.
The hostel-cum-school, situated on Gaulkhed road, is run by Maharashtra Social Welfare and Social Justice Department where about 230 girl students, from class 5th to 9th, live and study.
The hostel staff had tried to dump the food on the day of the incident on July 28 but alert locals helped police to collect food samples.
Locals claimed that the food consumed by the children had caught fungus.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena activists today beat up a teacher, identified as G S Gande who hails from Aasalgaon village, after they found him loitering on the hostel premises in an inebriated condition.
