A teacher of a primary school in Madhya Pradesh's Shivpuri district was suspended after it was found that the premises of the school were being used to operate a flour mill, an official from the school education department saidsaid on Friday.

During an inspection at the government primary school in Patpura of Shivpuri district earlier this week, an official was surprised to see a flour mill being operated on the premises and there was no sign of students or teachers, the official said.

Taking a serious note of the matter, Shivpuri district collector Akshay Kumar Singh suspended primary school teacher Shriniwas Bhargava on Thursday, he said. The matter came to the light when planning officer Rohini Awasthi reached the primary school, located 20 km away from the district headquarters, for an inspection on Tuesday, and was greeted by a flour mill operator instead of teachers and students, he added.

When Awasthi enquired about the teacher, she was told that he hardly came to work and the premises were being used by a local leader to operate his flour mill, the official said. The mill was properly established and set up in one of the classrooms in the school, he said. The planning officer prepared a report about her inspection and took signatures of eyewitnesses, before submitting it to district education officer (DEO) Sanjay Shrivastava, the official said. On the basis of the DEO's report, the collector suspended the teacher and initiated appropriate action against people who violated the rules.