Chennai: The headmaster of a government school in Dharmapuri district has been placed under suspension for drinking liquor in school.

District Educational Officer (DEO) K Palanisamy suspended S Gunasekaran, 42, headmaster of the Government Middle School in Attukkaranpatti village, on Wednesday evening after conducting a departmental inquiry.

On Tuesday, the headmaster consumed liquor and verbally abused the students. Villagers, who came to know about this, laid siege to the school. They also alerted educational department officials, who arrived here and initiated an inquiry. Inquiries revealed that the headmaster used to consume alcohol in classrooms and verbally abuse students in an inebriated condition.

“Gunasekaran argued with us during the inquiry. We recommended his suspension in our report submitted to the DEO,” said an official who was part of the inquiry team.