Samples from Rajouri family, which lost 8 members, to be tested for over100 toxins
A family of ten, now left with just two survivors, has emerged as the key to unlock the mystery of 17 deaths over 44 days in Rajouri’s Badhaal village.
Eight of this family — six children and their grandparents — died in just eight days from January 12 to 19.
“The first to die was an eight-year-old girl on January 12 and the last a 15-year- old girl on January 19. In between, four children and their grandparents succumbed to the same mystery we are all working to crack,” an expert probing Rajouri’s mystery deaths told The Tribune today.
For the multi-disciplinary team set up by Union Home Minister Amit Shah to solve the Badhaal puzzle, this family is at the centre of the latest and second round of medical investigations after the first round failed to yield the cause of 17 deaths in the village. The first death occurred on December 7, 2024 and the last on January 19.
Though three families are involved in the tragedies, the latest has lost maximum kin, sole survivors being a couple whose children and parents have died.
“This family is our last hope to crack this case. Since it saw the most recent set of deaths, samples from victims of this family will be crucial to investigations. We have sent a host of samples for testing and first reports should come in two weeks,” experts said.
Importantly, the matriarch of this third family — who is alive — is the sister of the first mystery death victim Fazal Hussain. The cops, working on the case to rule out foul play, are learnt to have taken food samples from the deceased family.
The Tribune has learnt that the experts have now expanded the scope of investigations to test human and environmental samples for over 100 toxins, including those found in wild frogs and fish.
This is a marked rise from the first probe which tested samples for around 10 toxins. These reports were negative. “We have not left out any possibility. The recommendation is to test for a wide range of toxins. These include pesticides, insecticides, tranquillisers, drugs, heavy metals like lead, cadmium, mercury; food toxins such as aflatoxins, mycotoxins; and volatile substances such as acetone, benzene, chloroform. Exposure to heavy metals can also lead to gastro and neurological symptoms observed in the Rajouri deceased,” said an expert.
The samples have been sent for investigation to ICMR’s National Institute of Virology Pune; DRDO lab in Gwalior and CSIR’s Indian Institute of Toxicology Research in Lucknow.
