JAMMU: The specter of “mystery illness” continued to haunt residents of Badhaal village in J&K’s Rajouri district, with Mohammad Aslam’s sixth son succumbing to the disease in a hospital in Jammu on Sunday, raising the total death toll to 17 since December. 2024, even as inter-ministerial team from Delhi he came to Rajouri to take stock.
Mohammad Aslam, who had lost five of his children as of 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.
Director of Govt Medical College and Associated Hospital (GMC&AH) in Jammu, Dr Ashutosh Gupta confirmed his death and told reporters that his condition was critical from day 1.
With this, Mohammad Aslam has lost four daughters, two sons and his maternal uncles in the space of a week after eating at a ‘fatiha’ – a memorial ceremony – organized in memory of Fazal Hussain and Robia Kousar (both 14 ), Farhana Kousar (9), Raftar (5) and Rukhsar (11), who died on December 7 during treatment after being affected by this mysterious disease.
Earlier, in the wake of the deaths of two families in the month of December 2024, the directorate of health services of the Union Health Ministry had sent a team of experts from premier medical institutions, including a team from the Indian Council of Medical Research. Equipped with a mobile laboratory vehicle, the team camped at Koteranka to investigate the cases and deaths in Badhaal.
On Saturday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah ordered the constitution of a high-level inter-ministerial team to visit a village in Rajouri district to determine the causes of mass deaths in the last six weeks. On Friday, J&K CM Omar Abdullah reviewed the situation in Badhaal village.
He had ordered the state health department to expedite investigations. During the investigation, health teams conducted door-to-door surveys among more than 3,000 residents of the affected area, collecting and analyzing samples of water, food and other materials. However, all test results, including those for influenza, were negative.
Police have constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the mass deaths after neurotoxins were found in the samples. Authorities sealed three houses belonging to the affected families and shifted 21 of their close relatives to government accommodation and kept them under strict surveillance.
Official sources said police have questioned about 20 people from the town, some related to the victims’ families.