BENGALURU: It was phosphide or rat poison that claimed the lives of three children of Tumakuru’s Vidyavaridhi International Boarding School on March 9. A report by the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) revealed the presence of phosphide in the viscera — liver, stomach and intestine — of the three children.
Three students, including a girl, of the boarding school, run by a former MLA, at Huliyar town, about 90 km from Tumakuru, died of suspected food poisoning on March 9. The security guard of the school, who was hospitalised after consuming the same food, also died three days later. Thereafter, the samples of the organs of the deceased were sent to FSL in Bengaluru. The sample results of the guard are yet to come out.
The victims were Shreyas (14), Shanthamurthy (16), Akanksh Pallaki (16) and Ramesh. The first round of the FSL test to check for the presence of a phosphide (or rat poison) or some other toxic substance in the sambar collected from the kitchen of the school failed as the Bengaluru lab has no advanced instruments or even a research and development (R&D) wing.
Hence, the FSL plans to send the sambar sample to the pathology lab in Nimhans or the National Institute of Animal Nutrition and Physiology at Adugodi, where there are advanced instruments for testing, sources told Express.
The toxicology wing of the FSL receives 5-6 samples a day from Bengaluru alone. As of now, around 600 samples have been pending for testing at this wing since 2015-17. It requires advanced equipment in some cases, in addition to more staff, sources said.
The conspiracy angle that the police were investigating seemed to have been proved right as the food samples analysed at the Public Health Institute in Bengaluru showed no positive results of the food itself getting poisoned. So now the police will focus on investigating whether outsiders laced the food with poison.
“The food samples showed no biological growth and to confirm the same, the samples have been sent for tests to an institute in Hyderabad,” said a doctor with the district general hospital here.
Meanwhile, the doctors who had conducted the autopsy and district surgeon Dr Veerabhadraiah suspect that the food might have been laced with aluminium sulphide which is freely available at fertiliser shops in Huliyar town.
“The chemical analysis report is expected to arrive by Friday. An investigation is under progress,” said Superintendent of Police Isha Pant. The SP went to Huliyar on Friday and heard the grievances of parents, students and the staff at the school.
The parents of the three children were promised compensation of `15 lakh each. The security guard’s family was given `5 lakh.