Rajouri ‘mysterious’ illness: J&K CM meets victims’ kin, Centre’s team collects more samples
Expressing profound grief, Omar extended his condolences and assured the bereaved families of full support and assistance by his government
Chief minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday visited Badhaal village and met families of the 16 people who lost their lives due to a “mysterious” illness since December 7 last year.

Expressing profound grief, Omar extended his condolences and assured the bereaved families of full support and assistance by his government.
Omar stressed that the government’s priority is to ensure the prevention of such incidents in the future and immediate end to a spate of unfortunate deaths.
He assured the public that a detailed investigation is underway to determine the cause of the tragedy.
“The civil administration and health department are actively addressing the matter, while the police have constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the incident. Additionally, a central team has been deputed and is working diligently to uncover the reasons behind this unfortunate loss of life,” he stated.
During Omar’s visit, MLA Javed Iqbal Choudhary submitted a proposal for compensation to the affected families.
Omar confirmed that the proposal is under active consideration and pledged timely action. He also directed district commissioner Rajouri, Abhishek Sharma, to extend all necessary support to the families during this difficult time.
He reassured the public that the findings of the investigation will be made transparent and that appropriate measures will be implemented based on the results.
Urging restraint in political interference, he added, “I appeal to everyone to allow the concerned agencies to perform their duties. Identifying the reasons behind these tragic deaths is our utmost priority, and we are committed to taking steps to prevent such occurrences in the future.”
The 16 member inter-ministerial team headed by director rank officer continued with their investigations in the affected village.
“The central team on Tuesday collected more samples and talked to the locals and officials,” said a senior health official.
Since, various tests conducted on different samples in some of the most reputed labs of the country ruled out any viral or bacterial infection, study of National Institute of Toxicology and Research at Lucknow has found some toxins in the plasma samples of those who died, he added.
It may be stated here that experts from National Institute of Virology Pune, National Centre for Disease Control, New Delhi, National Institute of Toxicology and Research, Lucknow, Defence Research Development Establishment, Gwalior, the Microbiology Department of PGIMER in Chandigarh besides the ICMR-Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratory and GMC Jammu were roped in to ascertain the root cause of the unexplained disease.
Meanwhile, one more person with same symptoms of profuse sweating and fever from Badhaal village was admitted at government medical college at Rajouri.
He was identified as Ajiaz Ahmed, 25, son of Abdul Majid.
