17th Death in Rajouri Due to Neurotoxins, MHA-Led Team Investigates

One more minor girl from Badhaal village in Rajouri district died on Sunday, taking the death toll due to unexplained neurotoxins to 17. Yasmeen, the 15-year-old daughter of Mohammad Aslam, passed away in SGMS hospital in Jammu. She was the eighth family member to die in Aslam’s family and the 17th in the Budhaal area over 45 days. Despite doctors attributing the deaths to neurotoxins, the exact cause remains a mystery.

Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha assured that the reason behind the mysterious deaths will be ascertained soon. An MHA-led inter-ministerial team has arrived in the Jammu region to investigate the causes of these deaths over the past six weeks. The team includes experts from various ministries and is assisted by specialists from animal husbandry, food safety, and forensic science labs.

Additionally, an 11-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Superintendent of Police (operations) Budhal, Wajahat Hussain, has been constituted to probe the deaths. On January 16, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah chaired a high-level meeting to discuss the situation and directed the health and police departments to expedite their investigations.