Mumbai:
Four people, including a 28-year-old woman contractor, have been arrested in connection with food poisoning, which affected nearly 500 students after they ate cakes provided under the mid-day meal scheme, in a school in suburban Andheri, the police said here today.
The accused, who were held last night, have been identified as Anita Thorat (28), contractor of the agency Parivartan Mahila Mandal which supplied the mid-day meal to the school, Irshad Ansari (50) and Kasim Ansari (29) who runs a bakery in partnership, and a bakery employee Irfan Shaikh (32).
According to the police, cakes were distributed yesterday morning at Anjuman Noor-ul-Islam school, Saki Naka, in Andheri, after which 493 students began complaining about giddiness and stomach ache, while some began vomiting.
The children were rushed to four hospitals.
Today, the accused were produced before a court which remanded them to police custody until November 30, the police said.
The accused have been booked under Sections 273 (Sale of noxious food or drink) and 336 (endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant sections of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act.
Police sent the cake samples to the Forensic Science Laboratory for chemical analysis to ascertain the cause of food poisoning.