Headmistress held for midday meal deaths in India

Unnerved by a bitter Opposition attack for the school meals tragedy that claimed 23 young lives, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday strongly defended his government’s response and said the ongoing probe would cover all relevant angles, including a possible conspiracy.
Hours after the absconding headmistress of the ill-fated government primary school in the southern district of Chapra was arrested while reaching a court to surrender, Mr Kumar chose to officially break silence on the July 17 disaster and subsequent politicking. Meena Kumari, the headmistress, was facing arrest since an FIR was lodged against her for murder and criminal negligence. She dismissed the charges as baseless, saying she was innocent, and demanded a CBI inquiry into the entire incident. “Neither I nor my husband, Arjun Rai, have anything to do with any political party,” she said before her interrogation by the SIT began.