A high-level inquiry set up by the Bihar government to probe the midday meal tragedy, which claimed the lives of 23 school children in Saran district, has blamed the principal for it.

 

Official sources said the report blamed Meena Devi, the principal of the government primary school, Dharmasati Gandaman, who along with her husband are on the run since the tragedy last Tuesday. "The principal mismanaged affairs of the school," the sources quoting the report said.

 

On Tuesday, the day of the incident, chief minister Nitish Kumar had entrusted the responsibility of the inquiry on the district commissioner and deputy inspector general of police of Saran Range. The two senior officers visited the village and talked to a cross section of the people there.

 

Meanwhile, the principal and her grocer husband were still absconding. "Police are conducting searches and have also spoken to relatives of the principal and her husband Arjun Rai, but they are yet to be arrested," Saran SP Sujit Kumar said.