Saudi Gazette report

Aligarh — Salma Ansari, the wife of former Indian vice president and former Indian ambassador to Saudi Arabia Hamid Ansari, has expressed shock at the news that some unidentified miscreants mixed rat poison in the drinking water supply of a madrasa (seminary) run by her in Aligarh.

Ansari, who heads the Al Noor Charitable Society which runs the madrasa, told the Times of India that she was shocked to learn about the incident and asked the madrasa warden to file a police complaint.

“When people target innocent children (one wonders) what level humanity will stoop to,” Salma Ansari told news agency ANI. A student of Madrasa Chacha Nehru spotted two men mixing rat poison in the water tank. When confronted, the men threatened the student with a country made pistol.

Police have lodged an FIR in the case under IPC sections 328 (causing hurt by means of poison) and 506 (criminal intimidation) and are on the lookout for two unidentified persons.

“Following the incident, we have decided to install CCTV cameras in the 18-year-old charitable institution which has 4,000 students on its rolls,” she told the newspaper.

Aligarh senior superintendent of police Rajesh Pandey said, “Fortunately, a student spotted the miscreants and alerted the warden.

“We have collected water samples which will be sent to forensic science laboratory (FSL) for tests on Saturday.”