The mysterious illness continues to keep residents of Badhaal village in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir under panic after the sixth child of a local man died suffering from the disease, taking the death toll to 17 since December 2024.
The 17th victim died of the illness on Sunday at Government Medical College and Associated Hospital (GMC&AH) in Jammu.
According to a report by The Times of India (ToI), Mohammad Aslam, who lost his sixth child Yasmeena Akhtar Jan (16) to the disease on Sunday had already seen his five children – three daughters and two sons -dying till Friday.
Yasmeena was admitted to a hospital in Rajouri last Sunday from where she was referred to Jammu on Monday. Dr Ashutosh Gupta, Principal of GMC&AH in Jammu, said that her condition was critical from day 1.
Apart from his six children, Mohammad Aslam has also lost his maternal uncle and aunty at a ‘fatiha’ – a memorial ceremony – organised 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.
According to a report by The Indian Express, all those who have succumbed from the mysterious disease were from three families at Badhaal village.
Since the beginning of December 2024, the mysterious illness has affected at least 38 people and killed 17 in Badhaal village.
On Saturday, Union Health Minister Amit Shah ordered the constitution of an inter-ministerial high-level team, which visited Rajouri on Sunday to further investigate and ascertain the causes of mass deaths in the past six weeks. They held a meeting with senior officials from the district administration, police, and doctors.
Authorities have ordered the sealing of a spring, in which they said they found traces of “some pesticides or insecticides”. Meanwhile, Additional Deputy Commissioner (Kotranka sub-division) Dil Mir has directed round-the-clock deployment of two-three security personnel at the water source.
“Samples of water taken from the spring (bawli)…have tested positive for some pesticides or insecticides. The said ‘bawli’ has been blocked by PHE (the Public Health Engineering Department), Jal Shakti division, Rajouri, and sealed by the magistrate concerned,” Mir said in the order.
“There is an apprehension that the tribal population of the village may collect the flowing water of this spring stealthily. Therefore, tehsildar, Khawas, shall ensure that no villager must use the water from this spring in any case,” the order further said.
Experts from three of India’s top medical institutions – the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh; National Institute of Virology, Pune; and the National Centre for Disease Control – have earlier visited the village and conducted microbiological studies on some water and food samples collected there.
At the hospitals in Rajouri and Jammu, doctors had also collected blood and other samples of those from the village who were admitted and sent them to labs in different parts of the country.
Authorities said the test reports ruled out any viral, bacterial or microbiological infections. However, experts said “certain neurotoxins” appear to have been found in the samples of those who have died so far.
A special investigation team (SIT) has been constituted by the police to probe the mass deaths after neurotoxins were found in samples.
Also, three houses belonging to the affected families have been sealed and 21 of their close relatives have been shifted to a government accommodation where they are kept under strict monitoring.
The ToI report quoted official sources as saying that police have quizzed around 20 people from the village, some related to the victims’ families.
With inputs from agencies
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Mysterious illness death toll rises to 17 in Jammu and Kashmir
