One more ‘mysterious’ death pushes toll to 17 in Rajouri, MHA team arrives in Jammu and Kashmir

Mysterious deaths in Jammu and Kashmir village prompt investigation by expert teams from MHA and Health Ministry.

As an expert team constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) arrived in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday (January 19, 2025) to investigate the “mysterious” deaths at a village in Rajouri district, one more such death was reported, taking the toll to 17 since December 7 last year.

Yasmeen, 15, became the latest victim of unexplained circumstances under which members of three families lost 17 relatives in the past 45 days. Officials said Yasmeen was the eighth member of the family of Mohammad Aslam, a resident of Rajouri’s Badhal village, to die under mysterious circumstances.

“The Badhal incident is a very tragic one. We are deeply saddened by the loss of lives. As soon as we received the initial report, we immediately deployed teams for investigation. We have set up both active and passive surveillance at the ground level. In active surveillance, our teams go door-to-door and screen every family member. Currently, around 50-60 employees are working on this team,” Dr. Manohar Lal Rana, Chief Medical Officer, Rajouri, said.

Since December 7 last year, four major waves of deaths struck Badhal village and left 17 dead and at least 28 affected. Among the deceased were 12 children and a pregnant woman. Doctors claimed that neurotoxins caused these deaths but they have not detected the source of it so far.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who announced a multi-disciplinary special investigation team to investigate the matter, in a statement made last week, said: “Despite extensive testing, including for influenza and other potential contaminants, all results came back negative. No definitive cause for the deaths was uncovered.”

The SIT on Sunday (January 19, 2025) continued to investigate the matter and met the residents of Badhal. Around 3,000 residents have been put to multiple tests to ascertain the cause of the deaths in the village.

Meanwhile, the MHA also announced an inter-ministerial team on Saturday (January 18, 2025). The team arrived in the Jammu region on Sunday (January 19, 2025). It consists of experts from the Ministries of Health and Family Welfare, Agriculture, Chemicals and Fertilisers and Water Resources. It is assisted by experts from animal husbandry, food safety and forensic science labs.