BHOPAL: Seven students of Saraswati Shishu Mandir (operated by RSS’s education wing Vidya Bharti) were hospitalized after consuming drinking water from water can be mixed with poisonous substance Celphos in Chhindwara district of Madhya Pradesh on Monday.
The seven students, including six boys and a girl are students of Class VI, VII and VIII at the Saraswati Shishu Mandir in Palakhed village under Mohkhed police station area of Chhindwara district (300 km from state capital Bhopal). Saraswati Shishu Mandir schools are run across the country by Vidya Bharti, the educational wing of BJP’s parent outfit RSS.
According to Dr Ashish who was treating the seven kids admitted at Chhindwara district hospital, the children fell ill in their school after consuming water from the can in which a pouch of Celphos poison was found floating.
“The children were first taken to the local health centre in Mohkhed from where doctors referred them to district hospital. Necessary treatment was immediately started at the district hospital, it seems that the water consumed by the children didn’t have high quantity of Celphos, owing to which there doesn’t seem to any major threat to their lives till now. But since Celphos (Aluminum Phosphide) is a dangerous poison which shows its dangerous effects in up to 24 hours, hence the children have been kept under round-the-clock observation,” said Dr Ashish.
Celphos (Aluminum Phosphide) is an agricultural pesticide commonly implicated in poisoning.
Confirming the incident to The New Indian Express, Chhindwara district police superintendent Manoj Rai said a case has been registered against unidentified persons under Section 328 of IPC (causing hurt by poison with intent to commit offence) and investigations are underway.
Importantly, Chhindwara district houses the Lok Sabha seat from where MP CM Kamal Nath has been elected nine times between 1980 and 2014.