Police have enlisted the services of the criminal investigation department to probe frequent reports of children falling sick by drinking contaminated water from hand pumps installed on the campuses of government schools.

Senior officers of the police held meetings with the CID officials on Saturday and Sunday to find out whether such incidents were the results of a criminal plot or part of a conspiracy to defame the government.

The officials were surprised to know that the timing of the incidents and the kind of poisonous substance used to pollute the water were also almost similar. They have prepared a list of the incidents reported from the districts in the past week. The CID officials did not rule out the involvement of forces, which were not happy with the government’s recent initiative to confiscate disproportionate assets of corrupt public servants and middlemen as well as the liquor mafia and people involved in squandering public money.

Director-general of police Abhayanand said: “We are trying to nab the criminals. Water samples have been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory.” On Friday, 68 students of Kasturba Gandhi Middle School at Runnisaidpur in Sitamarhi had fallen ill after drinking contaminated water. A woman was arrested in Gopalganj while a youth was arrested from Mohiuddin Nagar in Samastipur district for pouring poisonous substance into the hand pumps installed in the premises of two different schools last week.