Inter-ministerial team arrives in Jammu today to probe Rajouri mysterious deaths

Jammu, Jan 19 The inter-ministerial team of experts constituted under orders of Union Home Minister Amit Shah will arrive here on Sunday to visit Budhal village of Rajouri district to probe ‘mysterious deaths’.

The Union Home Minister ordered the constitution of an inter-ministerial team comprising experts from the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry, Agriculture Ministry, Chemicals and Fertilisers Ministry and the Ministry of Water Resources.

Officials said the team will go to Budhal village which has some of the most reputed experts in their fields. This inter-ministerial team will be assisted by Jammu and Kashmir's forensic sciences, animal husbandry and food safety departments.

Sixteen people, including children belonging to three families of Budhal village in Kotranka sub-division of Rajouri district, have died since December 8 due to a disease that causes high fever, excessive sweating, unconsciousness and death.

Samples analysed from the country’s best laboratories have shown that no virus or bacteria is responsible for these deaths while toxins have been found in the analysed samples.

A team of local doctors headed by Dr A.S. Bhatia, principal of the government medical college Rajouri, held a press conference on Saturday in Budhal village to address the fears of the local population.

Bhatia said that toxins could have caused brain damage that becomes irreversible if not treated immediately.

He said patients had mostly reported at hospitals after the toxins had caused irreversible brain damage about which the attending doctors could not do much.

The UT government has asked police in the Rajouri district to probe the criminal angle of these deaths as just three families in the village have been stricken by these unfortunate deaths. A family of seven members lost five of its members to this mysterious disease. The affected families have been isolated after experts from the local health department scanned 3,500 residents of Budhal and adjacent villages.

Rajouri police have constituted a special investigation team (SIT) and started an investigation into these incidents.