JAMMU: The spectre of the “mystery illness” continued to haunt residents of Badhaal village in J&K’s Rajouri district, with the sixth child of Mohammad Aslam succumbing to the disease at a hospital in Jammu on Sunday, taking the total death toll to 17 since Dec 2024, even as an inter-ministerial team from Delhi reached Rajouri to take stock.
Mohammad Aslam, who had lost five of his children till Friday, witnessed the death of his sixth and last child, Yasmeena Akhtar Jan (16). She was admitted to a hospital in Rajouri last Sunday from where she was referred to Jammu on Monday.
Principal of Govt Medical College and Associated Hospital (GMC&AH) in Jammu, Dr Ashutosh Gupta, confirmed her death and told mediapersons that her condition was critical from Day 1.
With this, Mohammad Aslam has lost four daughters, two sons and his maternal uncle and aunt in a span of a week after they had taken meal at a ‘fatiha’ – a memorial ceremony — organised in memory of Fazal Hussain and Robia Kousar (both 14), Farhana Kousar (9) Raftar (5) and Rukhsar (11) who died on Dec 7 during treatment after being affected by this mysterious disease.
Earlier, in the wake of deaths in two families in the month of Dec 2024, the directorate of health services under the Union health ministry had sent a team of experts from premier medical institutions, including a team from Indian Council of Medical Research. Equipped with a Mobile Laboratory Vehicle, the team had camped at Koteranka to investigate the cases and deaths in Badhaal.
On Saturday, Union home minister Amit Shah ordered the constitution of an inter-ministerial high-level team to visit a village in Rajouri district to ascertain the causes of mass deaths in the past six weeks. On Friday, J&K CM Omar Abdullah had reviewed the situation in Badhaal village.
He had directed the state health department to expedite investigations. During the probe, health teams conducted door-to-door surveys of over 3,000 residents in the affected area, collecting and testing samples of water, food, and other materials. However, all test results, including those for influenza, came negative.
Police have constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the mass deaths after neurotoxins were found in samples. Authorities have sealed three houses belonging to the affected families and shifted 21 of their close relatives to a govt accommodation and are being kept under strict monitoring.
Official sources said police have questioned around 20 people from the village, some related to the victims’ families.
