UpdateIndian school head arrested over mass poisoning

Police on Wednesday arrested the head of a school in eastern India where 23 students died after eating food contaminated with pesticide, an officer said.

“The principal surrendered ... and we have arrested her for questioning,” said Sujeet Kumar, police chief of Saran district in Bihar state where the children died.

“We need to talk to her first before framing charges,” the official said by telephone.

The children, aged four to 12, died after eating a free lunch of lentils, potatoes and rice cooked at the school in a poverty-stricken village on July 16.

Oil used to cook the food contained an agricultural insecticide that was five times the strength sold in the market place, a forensic report found.