
SRINAGAR: The mysterious deaths in the Budhal village of Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir have risen to 16 with the death of an elderly woman in a hospital on Friday.
The deaths have occurred within 45 days. Officials said 60-year-old woman Jatti Begum breathed her last at GMC Associated Hospital Rajouri today. She was the wife of 65-year-old Muhammad Yousuf, who also died a few days ago. With the death of Jatti Begum, the mysterious death toll in the remote Budhal village has risen to 16.
Among the dead, there are 12 children and four adults. The first few deaths in the village took place on December 5, 2024 when five members of a family including its head died due to the mysterious disease. The family of seven had fallen ill after a community meal in the village.
Five days later on December 12, 2024, three children died of the same mysterious disease. On January 12 a family of ten fell ill after consuming another community meal. Eight more deaths have taken place since.
The deaths are confined to three families, who are interlinked and related to each other. The mysterious illness has caused a scare in the village and villagers are very apprehensive about their health.
The village comprises about 5700 people. Thousands of samples have been taken by different agencies from the village. The government has said all samples have tested negative for any viral or bacteriological etiology.
"The tests were conducted on different samples in some of the most reputed labs in the country. These include the National Institute of Virology Pune, the National Centre for Disease Control New Delhi, the National Institute of Toxicology and Research Lucknow, the Defence Research Development Establishment Gwalior, the Microbiology Department of PGIMER Chandigarh besides the ICMR-Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratory, GMC Jammu,” an official spokesman said.
The team of state rapid response experts, including epidemiologists, microbiologists, and others from DHS Jammu, GMC Jammu, and Rajouri, visited the area to conduct detailed screening and collect contact tracing samples. Experts from NCDC, NIV Pune, and PGI Chandigarh also visited the area to assist in containing the situation.
An official spokesman said the clinical reports, lab investigations, and environmental samples indicate that the incidents are not due to a communicable disease.
“The toxicological analysis conducted by CSIR-IITR has detected toxins in multiple biological specimens,” he said.
With health authorities not detecting any bacterial, or viral infection or disease in the deaths so far, the authorities have asked police to investigate the deaths. Police have formed an 11-member SIT for investigating the deaths.
The SIT is headed by Superintendent of Police (SP) Budhal Wajahat Hussain. The team members would also include experts from forensic microbiology, paediatric and pathology departments. The SIT will utilise the services of experts from the Food and Safety departments, Agriculture, Jal Shakti and experts of FSL Jammu during the investigations.