CM Omar Abdullah visits remote village hit by mysterious deaths in Rajouri

Badhaal (J-K), Jan 21 (PTI) Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday visited this remote village in Rajouri district to express solidarity with the bereaved families whose 17 members, including 13 children, died under mysterious circumstances in the past one-and-a-half month.

Soon after reaching the mountainous village, about 55 km from Rajouri district headquarters, Omar accompanied by National Conference local MLA Javaid Iqbal Choudhary visited the graveyard and offered ‘Fateh’ (special prayers) to the deceased, the officials said.

They said the chief minister expressed sympathies with the bereaved families including Mohd Aslam who lost his six children and his maternal uncle and aunt who have adopted him in the past week. Aslam and his wife are the only survivors in his family after the tragedy.

Seventeen persons belonging to three families linked to each other died under suspicious circumstances in the village between December 7 and January 19.

The visit of the chief minister comes on a day when a high level inter-ministerial team is visiting the village as part of its probe to ascertain the cause of the deaths.

Earlier, a Jammu and Kashmir government spokesperson said investigations and samples empirically indicated that the incidents were not due to a communicable disease of bacterial or viral origin and that there is no public health angle.

A Special Investigation Team was set up after certain neurotoxins have been found in the samples of the deceased.

Authorities recently sealed a spring in the village after its water tested positive for some pesticides/insecticides.