Jammu: The police here have constituted a special investigation team to probe the mysterious death of 14 people, including 11 children, belonging to three families in a remote village in Rajouri district, officials said on Wednesday.
Amid growing concern over the mysterious deaths in the Badhaal village over the past one month, the administration has directed officials to analyse reports from institutions to identify the cause of the deaths.
Initial reports indicate the presence of certain neurotoxins in the samples of the deceased, which are being further investigated to determine the reasons behind these fatalities.
The 11-member special investigation team (SIT) headed by the Superintendent of Police (operations) Budhal, Wajahat Hussain, has been formed keeping in view the sensitivity of the inquest proceeding initiated into the deaths, stated an order by Senior Superintendent of Police of Rajouri Gaurav Sikarwar.
According to four daily diary reports (DDRs) registered at the Kandi police station on December 7, 12, 23 and January 12, a total of 14 people — a man and his four children, a woman and her three children and a man and his four grandchildren –- died under suspicious circumstances.
Deputy Superintendent of Police of Kandi Vikram Sarmhal, SHO of Kandi Abrar Khan, SHO of women police station in Rajouri Sushma Thakur, Inspector Rajeev Kumar, Sub-Inspector Pankaj Sharma and Assistant Sub-inspector Pawan Sharma have been included as members of the SIT, the order stated.
The SIT also included experts from the Forensic Medicine and Toxicology Department, Microbiology Department, Paediatrics Department and the Pathology Department.
According to the order, the SIT in charge will also use the service of experts from food safety, agriculture, Jal Shakti (Public Health Engineering) Departments and experts of the FSL team, Jammu, for investigation.
The team has been directed to share the progress of the investigation with the district police office on a weekly basis.
Meanwhile, Minister for Health and Medical Education, Social Welfare and Education, Sakeena Itoo, today said that investigations are underway to ascertain the actual cause behind these unfortunate deaths.
While speaking on the issue, Sakeena Itoo said that the entire team of health department visited the affected village and checked more than three thousand people door-to-door. She added that the teams collected samples of all kinds like water sample, food sample and other samples and sent the same for tests.
The Minister added that all the tests have been diagnosed negative. “All the sample tests that have been taken, whether it is water, food grains, rest of the things they used there including biscuits, whatever it is and all reports were found negative”, Sakeena Itoo said. She added that even all the influenza tests have also been diagnosed as negative.
The Minister further said that the health department got some samples tested outside through national institutes like ICMR, National Institute of Virology, National Centre for Disease control, CSIR, DRDO, PGIMER Chandigarh and others and all reports were found negative.
The Minister further added that the deaths were among the three families in total living at a distance of one and a half kilometers from each other. She highlighted that during these 40 days, the health department kept all facilities available in the affected area like ambulances, medicines and other essential drugs to meet any exigency. “In 40 days, God forbid, a COVID disease comes, or some other infectious disease happens, it spreads. But there is no health-related issue found till date”, Sakeena said.
The Minister continued that the matter is under investigation now and the police department and district administration will investigate further what the real issue is.
Sakeena Itoo also expressed deepest condolences with the families of the deceased and assured the public that the government is treating this matter with the utmost urgency and seriousness. “The well-being of our citizens is our top priority and we will leave no stone unturned in uncovering the root cause behind these tragic deaths”, the Minister maintained.
She appealed the public to remain calm and extend full support to the district administration during investigation being carried out to ascertain the actual cause of deaths.
