Ranchi, Aug. 23: Armed police have been deployed at the Navodaya School, Lohardaga, after a group of boys attacked the principal, M. Banerjee, with rods and sticks. Students from Class IX upwards at the residential school are being sent home for a fortnight while other classes are scheduled to resume tomorrow.

A group of students turned violent, said Lohardaga superintendent of police Subodh Prasad, on the night of August 21 after they detected some insects in the kabuli chana served at dinner-time with rice and chapatis.

The students disconnected electric supply to the principal’s residence, disconnected the generator, broke window panes, vandalised the lawn before breaking open the door that had been locked from inside.

Timely arrival of the police from the police station situated a kilometre away, prevented the situation from turning uglier.

“Students would have killed the principal if the police had not arrived,” claimed the superintendent of police .

The principal, who has been posted at Lohardaga for the past five and a half years, later lodged an FIR against 11 senior students and two teachers, who, he alleged, had instigated the boys.

Most of the students named in the FIR are students of Class X or higher classes and hail from neighbouring areas of Lohardaga, Gumla and Latehar.

The principal had a different story to tell.

“You don’t kill anyone because an insect flies into your daal,” said Banerjee over the telephone.

He claimed that trouble began when one of the senior students began abusing a mess-boy. The student, the principal claimed, had arrived late for dinner and found that the hostel kitchen had run out of rice.

This infuriated the student who used the filthiest words to abuse the mess-boy.

Informed of the incident, the principal arrived at the dining hall and forced the student to tender a public apology to the mess-boy.

The student was then escorted to the principal’s quarter, where he was counselled. It was after the student returned to the hostel that a group of students were mobilised and the plan hatched to assault him, the principal claimed.

A section of students, however, maintained that the situation spun out of control after the principal rudely roughed up the boy.

Banerjee denied the allegation. “Bad food was just a pretext. They wanted to give vent to their anger and frustration because I am strict in maintaining discipline in the campus,” he said.

Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNV) are located all over the country and there are approximately 557 JNVs, including 22, in Jharkhand.

They offer free education to students who get selected through an All India entrance exam, held at district level. The Lohardaga school has 560 students, including 200 girls.

First established in 1985, the schools, funded entirely by the Central government, were visualised for talented students from rural areas. The schools provide computer education, have internet facilities and seek to provide the best in education.