Patna, July 24 - Five people, including the headmaster and two teachers, were arrested in Bihar's Nalanda district after a lizard was found in the mid-day meals served to school children, officials said Friday. In the last three weeks various such cases have been reported in the state.

Bihar's Human Resource Development Minister Hari Narain Singh said that the headmaster and two teachers of a middle school in Basniawa under Harnaut block have been arrested after a lizard was found in the mid-day meal. They were also suspended on charge of negligence of duty.

More than 25 students of the school fell ill soon after eating the mid-day meal Wednesday.

It was not the first such case in Bihar.

In the last three weeks, a lizard was found in the mid-day meal in at least three schools and insects were also found in mid-day meals in different schools in half a dozen districts.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has admitted that there were shortcomings in the mid-day meals scheme being implemented in more than 80,000 schools of the state.