Daijiworld Media Network - Tumakuru (SP)
Tumakuru, Mar 11: Relating to the death of students due to consumption of poisonous food at Vidyavaridhi International School at Huliyaru village in the district, investigation has been undertaken by a police team headed by deputy superintendent of police from Tiptur, Venugopal. Initially, it has been found that the hostel was being run without obtaining necessary permission.
The doctors said that traces of poison were found in the bodies of the deceased students and that on the face of it, it looks like a case of adding poison to the food. They insist that it seems to be a case of mixing poison to food purposefully, and not falling of some poisonous reptiles as was being thought earlier. Holiday has been declared for the school till Monday in view of the prevailing situation. Four persons who had been taken into custody in this connection, were produced in court on Friday March 10, whereupon they were granted conditional bail.
The first and foremost glaring issue that attracts the attention of visitors to the hostel is lack of hygiene. Kitchen is located at such a spot that outsiders have free access to it, and anyone can come and go without getting noticed by the students or hostel staff. Although a telephone had been provided at the hostel for enabling students to call their parents, on the day the tragedy occurred, there was no phone, and the students could not contact their parents. The CCTV cameras installed at the hostel have not been functioning since January 4, and the management is guilty of not setting them right. These cameras could have provided vital clue about the persons involved with this mischief.
It is said that a person was waiting near the compound in front of the hostel at around 8 pm on Wednesday with his two-wheeler for a long time. The police hope to get information about the person once the watchman, who was one among those who consumed poisonous food, recovers.
In the meanwhile, parents of deceased students rushed to Huliyaru police station, accusing the police personnel of siding with school management and filing case against the concerned by invoking provisions of law that are feeble in nature. They have also charged the management of failing to call for medical help immediately after the students fell sick, and instead, taking the bodies of students after they breathed their last with inordinate delay.
Speaking at Bengaluru, state social welfare minister, H Anjjaneya, said that it has been now decided to make it mandatory to fix CCTV cameras in the kitchens of private residential schools too like in government hostels. Obtaining of periodical certificates from health department about hygiene will also be made compulsory, he added.