Odisha Student Persuades Hostel Mates To Drink Water Mixed With Pesticide; Know Why

Bhubaneswar: Reluctant to attend school, a Class XI student in Odisha’s Bargarh district allegedly mixed pesticide in drinking water and offered it to classmates to force closure of the institution.

Around 20 students of Classes XI and XII of Kamgaon Higher Secondary School in Bhatli block fell sick after drinking the adulterated water and had to be hospitalised.

According to sources, the accused student had returned to school on December 6 after spending two days in his village Nuapalli.

“He was apparently elated by fake news circulated on social media about lockdown returning to Odisha from December 19. He was disturbed after he got to learn the news was fake and the school was unlikely to break for a vacation anytime soon,” principal Premananda Patel told the media.

The boy kept telling his friends that he would make the school shut and on December 8, he persuaded his hostel mates to drink water from a bottle to which he had added pesticides, he added.

The students complained of nausea and vomiting and were first taken to Kamgaon hospital and then to the Bargarh district headquarters hospital. None of the students who were kept under observation showed any complications.

“The management has decided to issue him a transfer certificate. His parents have been asked to come to the school on Saturday. The management was of the view that his parents should be counselled to take care of the minor and consult a doctor since he may be having mental problems,” the principal said.

More than 300 students stay in the hostels of this government-aided co-educational school set up in 1992.