NEW DELHI
Indian police have arrested the headmistress of the elementary school where a pesticide-contaminated lunch killed 23 children and hospitalized two dozen more, the superintendent of police in the district where the school is located said Wednesday.
Indian school principal Meena Kumari, center, was arrested Wednesday as she was about to surrender in Chapra, Bihar.
.Meena Kumari, who had been missing since the July 16 incident, was arrested in the town of Chapra as she was about to hand herself in to a local court, said Sujeet Kumar, the police superintendent. She hasn't been charged, he said.
"Our main concern now is to interrogate her and get as much detail as we can," Mr. Kumar said.
A court in Chapra issued a warrant for Ms. Kumari's arrest on Monday, a senior official in the state government said. Late Tuesday, the court said it would seize the headmistress's property if she didn't surrender, the official added. This notice was sent to her house and posted in local newspapers, he said. Attempts to contact Ms. Kumari or members of her family were unsuccessful. Her lawyer hasn't commented publicly.
Police started searching Ms. Kumari's home, along with the homes of her parents and other relatives this week after a forensic examination of the school lunch found traces of a chemical compound five times the strength of its level used in commercial pesticide.
The school, which has been closed since July 16, is in Gandaman village, about 60 miles from Patna, the capital of Bihar state, and 25 miles from the town of Chapra. Chapra is also the name of the district in which Gandaman is located.
Bereaved families buried many of the dead children in the school playground and nearby.
Indian school principal Meena Kumari, center, was arrested Wednesday as she was about to surrender in Chapra, Bihar.
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