Inter-Ministerial team conducting probe under tight security measures

JAMMU, Jan 20: An eleven-member inter-ministerial team visited the three affected families in Badhal Village of Rajouri District on Monday, where seventeen people, including 13 children, have died under mysterious circumstances.
“The team has collected samples of water, soil, and food grains from the affected families and the surrounding areas, with a special focus on water sources and food grains,” official sources told Rising Kashmir.
The collected samples will be sent to reputed laboratories across the country, including those in Pune, Delhi, and Chandigarh, to determine the exact causes behind the deaths.
Sources revealed that the inter-ministerial team remains in Rajouri under tight security, with strict directives from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to Jammu and Kashmir officials not to release any information about the ongoing investigation. The team, appointed on the orders of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, is expected to visit Badhal Village again tomorrow for further investigations.
The investigation is being conducted under heavy security, and no details are being disclosed, following explicit instructions from the MHA. The team, led by the Director of the Ministry of Home Affairs, arrived in Jammu on Sunday afternoon and immediately visited the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMC&H) in Jammu. Sources indicated that the team held a detailed, two-hour meeting with senior health officials, the Nodal Officer, and other concerned authorities, discussing the mysterious deaths in Rajouri.
The central team requested reports of various tests conducted by the health department to identify the causes behind the deaths in Badhal Village.