A shocking case has emerged from a government school in Tamil Nadu's Erode district, where cow dung powder was deliberately mixed into the sambar served under the school's free breakfast scheme. Investigators say the plot was not the work of an outsider but someone connected to the school itself, driven by a personal grudge. Fortunately, the contaminated food was caught before it could reach any student's plate.
A husband's anger over his wife's dismissal
Police identified the accused as Arumugam. Investigations revealed that his wife had worked as a cook at the same government school. After repeated complaints about poor food quality and shoddy cooking, the school administration had terminated her from the job. Arumugam reportedly could not accept his wife's dismissal and hatched a disturbing plan to both defame the school and take revenge. Rather than acting directly himself, he targeted an innocent student at the school, threatening and intimidating the child into mixing dried cow dung powder into the sambar being prepared under the mid-day meal scheme. Police say the incident took place on August 29.
Alert teachers foiled a major disaster
Government schools follow a rule requiring teachers to personally taste a sample of the food before it is served to students, to check its quality and taste. It was this very rule that exposed the plot. When teachers tasted the portion set aside for testing, they found it unusually bitter. At first, they assumed too much turmeric had accidentally been added, but growing suspicion prompted them to look into it more closely. The inquiry revealed that cow dung powder had indeed been mixed into the sambar. Crucially, the contamination was limited only to the sample portion set aside for the teachers' taste test. The sambar actually served to the students remained completely safe, so no child's health was affected and no student fell ill.
Police moved in swiftly after the complaint
Given the seriousness of the incident, the school administration filed a formal complaint with the Erode police on September 1. Acting quickly on the complaint, police identified and arrested Arumugam. He has been booked under Section 123 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which deals with causing hurt by administering poison or any noxious substance with the intent to commit an offence. The accused currently remains in police custody, and further legal proceedings in the case are underway. Following the incident, oversight of the mid-day meal scheme at the school has reportedly been tightened.
