Amit Shah orders inter-ministerial team to investigate deaths in J&K's Rajouri

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah has ordered the constitution of an inter-ministerial team to visit a village in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district to ascertain the causes of deaths in three incidents in the past six weeks.

The team will be headed by a senior Union home ministry officer and consist of experts from the ministries of health and family welfare, agriculture, chemicals and fertilisers, and water resources, according to an official statement.

The team will also be assisted by experts from the animal husbandry, food safety and forensic science labs.

The central team will proceed on Sunday and, in collaboration with the local administration, also work on providing immediate relief as well as taking precautionary measures to prevent such incidents in the future, according to the statement.

Experts from some of the most reputable institutions in the country have been arranged to manage the situation and understand the causes of the deaths.

At least 16 people have died of a mysterious illness in the Budhal village of Rajouri district in the past 45 days.

People complained of fever, pain, nausea and loss of consciousness before dying within days of their admission to hospitals. A girl continues to remain critical.

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.