Magisterial probe ordered into food poisoning at Goa jail

Goa government today ordered a magisterial inquiry into the suspected food poisoning incident at two jails here in which a prisoner died and over 100 inmates took ill.
"Additional District Collector Deepak Desai has been asked to conduct the inquiry", North Goa District Collector Mihir Vardhan, who is also Inspector General of Prisons, told PTI.
A murder convict Mahadev Gaonkar died and around 130 inmates of the Central Jail at Aguada and Mapusa Sub-Jail took ill yesterday after consuming the dinner cooked by inmates on Thursday night.
Around 30 prisoners are still undergoing treatment at the state-run Goa Medical College here, Vardhan said.

However, even a day after the incident, the authorities could not confirm whether the prisoner died of food poisoning as they are awaiting his viscera report.
"Gaonkar's postmortem was conducted but the cause of his death could not be ascertained yet as forensic experts are awaiting his viscera report", Vardhan said.

There were no external injuries on his (Gaonkar's) body, he said.
Food is prepared at Aguada jail for inmates of the two jails which are located within 10 km of each other.
Gaonkar died last morning before he could be admitted to the primary health centre at Candolim near here.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar though confirmed the magisterial probe, he evaded a query on what caused the incident.
"I do not cook food..District collector has already asked the magistrate to inquire into the incident", Parrikar retorted.
A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) team has already taken samples of water and raw food from the jails though they could not get sample of the dinner.
"Results of a micro-biological test on water samples might take a couple of weeks, but rest of the test results would be ready soon," FDA Director Jyoti Sardesai told reporters yesterday.