Rajauri deaths: No conclusive report yet, MLAs demand CBI probe

After members of the Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly expressed grave concern over recent deaths of 17 people in Badhaal village, Rajouri , due to a mysterious illness and demanded a CBI probe to pin-point exact cause of their deaths, health and medical education minister Sakina Itoo said that a probe was already on and the house should wait for its report.

Raising queries during question hour here, NC MLA from Budhal, Javaid Iqbal Choudhary, said, “It appeared truck loads of toxins were given to the villagers in Badhaal village. Different reports by various labs suggested different toxins in various samples but the exact cause of these deaths has not been pinpointed till date.”

Choudhary said he felt a larger conspiracy behind deaths of people in Badhaal, Kulgam and Kathua and demanded a CBI probe.

Independent MLA from Surankote, Choudhary Akram, also endorsed Budhal MLA’s demand.

CPI (M) MLA from Kulgam, MY Tarigami said, “so many people died and the exact cause of their deaths still remains unknown. It is unprecedented. Never ever in the history of this house, such an incident has surfaced. The root cause behind these deaths must be known. It is very important for us to know or are their invisible hands working behind such deaths.”

Tarigami also demanded a credible probe to unravel the mystery.

Responding to the concern of the house, Sakina Itoo said, “The concern of the house is genuine. There is a probe underway and let us wait for its report.”

She informed the house that clinical reports, lab investigations and environmental samples indicated that the incidents were not due to a communicable disease of bacterial or viral origin.

“Instead, detection by the PGIMER Chandigarh revealed presence of aluminium and cadmium in the samples. CSIR-IITR Lucknow found aldicarb sulphate and acetamipride diethyl dithiocarbamte, chlorphenapyr. DRDE-DRDO Gwalior found chlorphenapyr, abrin from samples of sattu and maize bread. NFL, FSSAI Ghaziabad found chlorphenapyr and chlorpyrophos from food samples and CFSL, Chandigarh found chlorphenapyr in viscera samples of all 17 deceased.”

The health minister informed the house that immediately following the first incident on December 7 last year, a medical team, along with the food safety department, visited the village to collect food and water samples, suspecting food poisoning.

“Nearby households were also checked, but no further cases were found. After second similar Incident took place on December 12, the district administration and health department visited the village Badhaal to collect samples of water, food, and drugs taken by the affected families. The deputy commissioner of Rajouri and chief medical officer (CMO) Rajouri ensured that medical assistance was provided to the villagers. The MLA and PRIs were regularly briefed on the situation,” she said.

The health minister informed that round-the-clock medical teams were stationed in the village and they conducted door-to-door screenings of around 3,500 villagers.

“Sufficient drugs and supplies were provided, and sample collection facilities were set up. A team comprising 43 field workers, eight FMPWs, and 10 ASHAs conducted active surveillance across all seven wards of Badhaal Gala and Badhaal Chatroon, screening 3,577 people,” she said.

It may be stated here that despite an inter-ministerial team rushed by the Union minister of home affairs, Amit Shah on January 18 and experts from top health institutes making a beeline to Badhaal village besides a special investigation team (SIT) of the police formed to ascertain the root-cause of 17 deaths, no conclusive report has come into public domain as yet.

Since December 7 last year, 17 people including 13 children died due to a mysterious illness in the village.

Home minister Amit Shah, on January 18, had ordered constitution of an inter-ministerial team, that visited Badhaal village on the very next day.

On January 16, police had formed a SIT to investigate the matter.

Similarly, some national labs of repute, like National Institute of Virology Pune, National Centre for Disease Control New Delhi, National Institute of Toxicology and Research Lucknow, Defence Research Development Establishment Gwalior, microbiology department of PGIMER Chandigarh besides the ICMR-Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratory of GMC Jammu visited the village to conduct their investigations.

Call and message to elicit response of Rajouri district senior superintendent of police (SSP) Gaurav Sikarwar on findings, if any, of the SIT went unanswered.