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A mysterious disease in Badhal village of Budhal tehsil of Rajouri district has claimed two more lives in the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 14 since December 2024. According to reports latest victims include a six-year-old girl, Safina Kousar, who died at the SMGS hospital Jammu, and her relative, Mohd Yusuf, who passed away at GMC Rajouri yesterday. 

Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo, yesterday, chaired a meeting with health experts and officials from national institutions to investigate the cause of the deaths. He urged Health and Police Departments to coordinate in investigating the mystery. During the meeting, it was told that experts from PGIMER, NIV, and NCDC found no infections but identified neurotoxins in the victims’ samples.

The UT administration has launched an investigation into the unexplained deaths of 14 individuals.  The deaths, which have raised significant concern, occurred over the past month, and the cause remains unclear. In response to the deaths, the State government has taken several measures, including deploying Rapid Response Teams, testing water sources, and analysing samples from both humans and animals. The assistance of respected health institutions across the country has been sought to help determine the actual cause of the deaths. Worth mentioning, from the 7th of December 2024, a total of 14 deaths have been reported out of 38 affected individuals across three separate incidents in Badhal village of Rajouri district

“Thirteen people, including 11 children, have died in the village (eight in December and five this month). The health department mobilised its entire machinery after getting information about the deaths of five people and screened 3,500 villagers door to door.

“It took samples and sent those for testing in various laboratories within and outside Jammu and Kashmir. Three more people died a few days later, prompting the department to seek the assistance of the country’s premier health institutions. Their teams arrived here and carried out a detailed investigation,” the minister told reporters.

On Tuesday evening, officials had put the overall death toll in the village at 14.

After more than 40 days, Masood said the deaths started occurring again and it is evident that if the fatalities were caused by any disease, it would have spread immediately and would not have been restricted to three families, which are living in close vicinity and are related to each other.

Meanwhile, she said all the test reports conducted within and outside Jammu and Kashmir, including at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in Pune, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in Delhi, Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE) in Gwalior and the microbiology department at the PGI-Chandigarh, have returned negative results, and so has been the case with the samples of water and other food items. “The health department could not find any disease, virus or infection that caused the deaths,” the minister, who visited the village last month to take stock of the situation, said.

She said the real cause of the deaths is a matter of investigation. “The police department and the district administration will investigate the unfortunate deaths of the 13 people, who were normal and were not suffering from any illness or infection,” Masood said, expressing her sympathies for the bereaved families.

Asked about health experts revealing that certain neurotoxins have been found in the samples of some of the deceased, the minister said they will conclude only after an inquiry is completed.

“I am in touch with the district development commissioner and have also spoken to the senior superintendent of police. There should be a prompt investigation to unveil the truth,” she said. Masood said they were waiting for some test reports, including the Forensic Sciences Laboratory (FSL) report, which took time, but it is clear that any disease or virus did not cause the deaths.

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