A doctor at PMCH attends to a child on Saturday. Twenty-three children and cook Manju Devi are still under treatment. (AFP)

Patna, July 20: The forensic report into the midday meal deaths has confirmed the presence of monocrotophos, an organophosphate insecticide toxic to birds and humans, in the samples of the food served to the students of Gandaman government primary school in Saran district on Tuesday.

As many as 23 children died after eating the meal laced with the insecticide.

The forensic investigators have found five times more toxicants in the food compared to what is prevalent in standard pesticides available in the market and used for agricultural purposes.

Monocrotophos is an organophosphorus compound used as a pesticide for agricultural purposes. Owing to its high toxicity, it has been banned by the US and several other countries. India, however, is one of the highest consumers of monocrotophos.

The findings coincide with the state government’s decision to shift the Gandaman institution out of its present premises to a middle school in Masrakh block.

Releasing the forensic report today, additional director-general of police (headquarters) Ravinder Kumar said the forensic scientists have found the presence of monocrotophos in the samples of (edible) oil taken from the container, food remains on the plates used by the children and the mixture of rice with vegetables found in the aluminium cooking utensils of the Gandaman school.

Kumar said experts at the state forensic science laboratory in Patna used the GC-MS (gas chromatography-mass spectrometry) method to substantiate their claim. The method is used to identify the actual presence of a particular substance in a given sample. Investigators say the method is the “gold standard” for forensic substance identification.

Moreover, the results were interpreted using the library of the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an internationally acclaimed database, Kumar told reporters.

The toxin analysed matched with samples used as control obtained from the market, he said.

Kumar said besides the food remains, the other material analysed were the froth from the mouth of one of the sick children, the water used for cooking and drinking and the edible oil used for preparing the meal.

Asked whether the excess dose of toxicants found in the meal served to the students hinted at any conspiracy, Kumar said it was a matter of investigation. “The police would look into all aspects in the course of investigation,” he added.

Kumar said a forensic team from Patna visited the site of occurrence and collected the samples, which were examined and analysed at the state FSL. A report has already been sent to the court concerned, he said, adding that an FIR (No. 154) was lodged against the principal of the school, Meena Devi, and others under sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 328 (causing hurt by means of poison) and 120 (B) (conspiracy) of the IPC.

Circumstantial evidence, however, suggested that the cooking oil was kept in a container that was previously used to store pesticides or insecticides.

The oil was supplied by the grocery shop owned by the husband of the principal. The couple have been on the run ever since the tragedy struck.

Saran superintendent of police Sujeet Kumar said raids were conducted at the suspected hideouts of the principal.

“We have formed a special team to book the prime accused at the earliest,” he said.