The Saundatti Police have arrested three persons on charges of poisoning the drinking water at a government school in Hoolikati village in Belagavi district. In the incident that occurred about 15 days ago, 11 students were hospitalised after drinking water at the school. All the affected children have since recovered.
Belagavi district Superintendent of Police Bhimashankar Guled told the media on Saturday that the accused had conspired to put the blame on the headmaster of the school and get him transferred. The motive behind the act, according to officials, was to target the school’s headmaster, allegedly due to his religious identity.
The accused are believed to have attempted to create communal tension in the area by fabricating circumstances that would lead to the transfer of the headmaster.
Guled said that after the incident in which 11 schoolchildren were hospitalised, the police took up investigation in which it was revealed that three residents of the village, Sagar Patil, Krishna Madar and Naganagouda Patil, had poisoned the drinking water in their attempt to put the blame on the headmaster.
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Guled said that accused Krishna Madar was in a relationship with a girl of another community in the village and the main accused Sagar Patil had allegedly blackmailed Krishna Madar to poison the water by threatening him that he would disclose the matter if Krishna failed to help him. After Krishna agreed to poison the water, Sagar went to Munavalli with his relative Naganagouda to purchase pesticide. Subsequently, they had used an innocent boy of the school to mix the pesticide in the drinking water, he said.
A fortnight ago, Krishna Madar lured a student from the school with chocolates and other snacks, gave him ₹500, and asked him to mix the contents in a bottle into the school water tank. Not realising that the content was pesticide, the school boy mixed it in the water tank.
The police noticed the pesticide bottle thrown near the water tank and sent it to the laboratory. The subsequent investigation revealed the matter.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday condemned the alleged poisoning of drinking water at a government school in Hulikatti village of Belagavi district reportedly to force the transfer of a Muslim headmaster.
In a post on 'X' Siddaramaiah termed it a 'heinous act' driven by religious hatred and fundamentalism.
In a statement, Siddaramaiah said, “The headmaster of the government school in Hulikatti village, Savadatti taluk, Belagavi district, belongs to the Muslim community. With the malicious intent of having him transferred elsewhere, Sagar Patil, the Taluk president of Shriram Sena, along with two others, has been arrested for poisoning the drinking water of school children.” The incident occurred about 15 days ago, during which several children fell ill, though no casualties were reported.
Calling the act a "grave threat" to communal harmony, Siddaramaiah said, “Religious fundamentalism and communal hatred can lead to heinous acts, and this incident, which could have resulted in the massacre of innocent children, is a testament to that. In the land of the Sharanas, who proclaimed, ‘Compassion is the root of religion,’ how could such cruelty and hatred arise? Even at this moment, I cannot believe it.” Taking on Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and rightwing organisations, he said those who spread hatred in the name of religion for political gains should engage in self-reflection.
The Chief Minister used the incident to take a dig at the opposition parties and warned that all forms of extremism pose a threat to society.
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