A teacher checks bag of students at Ayatpur High School in Cuttack. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, July 8: Police today arrested a Class IX student of Ayatpur High School here, who carried a bomb to his classroom, leading to an explosion that left 22 students injured on July 1.

The accused has been sent to a special observation home in Berhampur following rejection of his bail plea.

“We produced him before the chief judicial magistrate court today and his bail plea was rejected,” said deputy commissioner of police S. Praveen Kumar.

Though the boy had earlier told cops that he had found the bomb wrapped in a polythene packet at an isolated place on his way to school and put it in his satchel, he was arrested after other students testified against him.

His classmates had informed police that he had brought a similar crude bomb to school recently and hurled it into a river.

The police suspected that the student had brought the bomb from the house of one of his uncles, Prashant Das, alias Tapu, who is a criminal. However, the cops were unable to establish the link between the student and his uncle Prashant. The cops became confident about his involvement in the blast only after recording statements of his classmates.

The boy hails from Nemeisapur village within the limits of Kandarpur police station. His family members have refused to comment on his involvement in the explosion and the turn of events today.

Following the blast, Kandarpur police had registered a case under sections 286, 337, 338 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 9(b) of the Explosives Act.

The school and mass education department had ordered an internal inquiry and Panchanan Behera, a Hindi teacher, was suspended for his alleged dereliction of duty.

Behera was today reinstated based on the final report, which has also suggested for implementation of certain guidelines for teachers and students. Official sources said that fresh guidelines have advocated for certain do’s and don’t’s for teachers, who have also been asked to be more vigilant and report any unusual behaviour of students to the headmaster, district education officers and other authorities.

The school authorities have also taken measures to step up security on campus. It has now been made mandatory to check every student’s bag when they enter the school compound.