Jammu, Jan 15: With two more deaths reported from Baddal village in Rajouri District , the toll has now risen to 14 which includes 11 children, a pregnant woman and one elderly person. All the victims belong to three families related to each other.
Two children from these families are still admitted in the SMGS Hospital, and are undergoing treatment, sources said.
“All the deceased are from three families of the Baddal Village of Rajouri, and are all relatives, which in itself is a testimony that there is some foul play,” a senior official said, while wishing not to be named.
“What would be the reason that people from these three families have died and no other in the Baddal Village has been infected,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Principal, Government Medical College and Hospital, Jammu, (GMC&H), Dr Ashutosh Gupta said that the samples collected from the deceased revealed that there is no infection.
“Some toxic material has been suspected to be found from the samples of the deceased and there is no infection as such,” the Principal informed Rising Kashmir.
Meanwhile, the expert team of ICMR and NCDC members sent by Government of India (GoI), after visiting SMGS Hospital, Jammu, reached Rajouri today to ascertain the causes of deaths.
The central government had earlier constituted an expert team including experts of GMC-Jammu and GMC-Rajouri to find out the exact cause of mysterious deaths in Rajouri.
This expert team was called from National Institute of Virology Pune, PGI Chandigarh and NCDC from Delhi, which investigated all the aspects into the deaths but their report is still awaited.
Highly placed sources said that the investigation so far has revealed that there is some foul play in the deaths and it is a matter of investigation by the Police.
