The State Government on Tuesday ordered a departmental probe into Monday’s bomb explosion inside a classroom at Ayatpur High School here that left at least 22 students injured.
School and Mass Education Minister Rabi Nayaran Nanda visited the school along with Sadar MLA Kalindi Behera to take stock of the situation. Nanda has asked Director, Secondary Education, to inquire into the incident and submit a detailed report within three days. Expressing concern over the incident, he said steps would have to be taken to prevent such incidents in schools in future.
Meanwhile, all the students of Class IX, who were injured in the explosion, have been discharged from the hospital. The school was open and all the classes functioned, though attendance was thin on account of the incident.
Class IX was shifted to another hall as the original classroom has been sealed by the police. Only around 24 students of the class, however, attended on Tuesday, headmistress Prativa Mohanty said.
Police investigation into the incident, particularly how the boy Rajkumar Das laid hands on the crude bomb, has made little headway as he is yet to be questioned in detail.
Though he was stated to have found the object lying near the path to school and put it in the bag, its veracity has not been examined. The boy has sustained injuries in the blast and is in a traumatised state. He will be examined as his condition improves, police said.
The bomb exploded inside the classroom after rolling out of Das’ schoolbag and fell on the floor. Around 58 students were in the class and were getting ready for the unit tests after the roll call when the incident took place.
Nimeisapur Hub of Criminal Activity
Cuttack: Nimeisapur, the village of Rajkumar Das, from where the boy allegedly brought the bomb to his class on Monday, is home to several notorious criminals, police said on Tuesday, as it busted a dacoit gang during investigation into the blast case. Four miscreants, including two belonging to Nimeisapur village, were nabbed from the nearby banks of the Mahanadi river. A 9mm pistol, 10 rounds of live bullets, two magazines and two sharp weapons were seized from their possession. The five-member gang, comprising Saroj Bhoi and Satyajit of Nimeisapur along with Tapas Ray and Shailendra Nayak of Naugaon in neighbouring Jagatsinghpur district and Chhabi Lenka of Baranga had gathered to plan a dacoity when police stumbled on them. Chhabi managed to escape from the clutches of the police. While all of them were notorious criminals, Shailendra and Chhabi were involved in the recent killing of a businessman at Baranga on June 16. The businessman, Prasanna Nayak, was shot dead by the miscreants in front of his house at Belagacchia village. According to police, an uncle of the boy is also a criminal and presently lodged in jail.