Jammu: A high-level inter-ministerial team headed by a top officer of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Monday reached Rajouri to probe the 17 mysterious deaths in Badhaal village in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri.
The 16-member team, constituted by Home Minister Amit Shah is led by a director-level officer of MHA. It held meetings with the local administration on Sunday to get the details of the tragedy. On Monday, the team reached the affected village and began their fact-finding to know the actual cause of the deaths.
Since December 7, 2024, 17 deaths have been reported in the village, while a total of 28 were affected, including 13 children and a pregnant woman. The officials had said that the deaths may be linked to “neurotoxins,” but the actual cause of the deaths remains unclear so far as the medical health experts have failed to ascertain the cause of the deaths.
On December 7, five persons, including four children, died of a mysterious illness after they fell ill after taking a community meal. On December 12, a woman and three children died due to an unknown illness.
On January 9, Mohammad Aslam’s six children fell ill, and all of them succumbed to it. The maternal uncle and aunt who lived with Aslam also died last week. Responding promptly, the government took several steps to find the root cause of the unusual illness.
Seventeen people, including 13 children and four adults from three families, have died of a mysterious illness in the village in the last 45 days. The three families are related to each other and reside about 1.5 km away from each other.
Subsequently, the Jammu and Kashmir Police have also formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) on January 14 to investigate the deaths. The SIT comprises experts from forensic medicine, toxicology, microbiology, and paediatrics. The police said they were exploring all possible angles, including foul play, and are working to identify the source of the toxins.
On Saturday, the authorities sealed a spring in the affected Budhaal village after water samples from it tested “positive for a few pesticides and insecticides” as per the order issued by the Additional Deputy Commissioner (Kotranka sub-division). The order further reads that the spring was blocked by the PHE (Jal Shakti) division in Rajouri and sealed by the concerned magistrate.
“The decision has been necessitated as there are apprehensions that the tribal population living in the village may collect water from the spring stealthily,” reads the order. “The tehsildar shall ensure that no villager uses water from the spring in any case.”
The Station House Officer (SHO) of Police Station Kandi has been directed to depute two to three security personnel round the clock at the spring to prevent the use of its water.
In response to the deaths, the government claimed to have taken several measures to find the root cause, as the health department officials had ruled out deaths due to epidemic or any other public health reason.
The spokesperson said that the investigators were exploring all possible angles, including the presence of toxins in the environment and food chain, as the forensic team and food safety experts were also on the job to test food and water samples.
The government claimed that they had been “closely monitoring the situation” as Health Minister Sakina Itoo visited the village and held several meetings with health officials and civil and police administration to ensure thorough fact-finding. Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo had also chaired several meetings with experts from across the country to provide the best healthcare facilities to the affected.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah also last week chaired a high-level meeting to discuss the alarming situation in Budhal village of Rajouri district, where mysterious deaths have claimed 17 lives.
Highlighting the urgency of the situation, Abdullah had directed the health and police departments to expedite their investigations.“The unexplained nature of these deaths is deeply concerning, and the government is committed to ensuring that the root cause is identified at the earliest. I urge all departments to collaborate and leave no stone unturned in resolving this issue,” he stated.
The Secretary of Health and Medical Education reported that health department teams had conducted a door-to-door survey of over 3,000 residents in the affected area, collecting and testing samples of water, food, and other materials. The Secretary of Health had informed the Chief Minister that all test results, including those for influenza and other possible contaminants, came back negative.
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