After more than a dozen deaths in three families in Jammu and Kashmir have sparked concerns, Health Minister Sakeena Masood said that the fatalities were not caused by any mysterious disease.

Masood said that the tests conducted both within and outside the Union Territory have returned negative results. 

Fourteen people, including 11 children, have died in the Badhaal village of Kotranka sub-division of Rajouri district. While 8 deaths took place in December, six deaths were reported this month. The latest death took place in the village on Tuesday evening.

The Health Minister said that the deaths in the three families are of great concern and police and the district administration will undertake a speedy probe to unveil the mystery.

Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir Police have constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to expedite the inquest proceedings into the mysterious deaths.

The SIT is headed by Superintendent of Police (Operations), Budhal, Wajahat Hussain, and includes officers from various police units and experts from multiple fields. 

The team comprises officers including the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Police Component Kandi, Station House Officers (SHOs) of Police Station Kandi and Women Police Station Rajouri, as well as other officials from the district police. Meanwhile, specialists from the Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Microbiology, Pediatrics, and Pathology Departments have been included to provide scientific and medical insights.

The SIT has been directed to investigate the deaths and arrive at a logical conclusion at the earliest. 

The health department has mobilised its machinery and screened 3,500 villagers door to door. It took samples and sent those for testing in various laboratories within and outside Jammu and Kashmir, the health minister said. 

Masood said that if the fatalities had been caused by any disease, it would have spread immediately and would not have been restricted to three families, which are living in close vicinity and are related to each other.

She said all the test reports conducted within and outside Jammu and Kashmir, including at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in Pune, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in Delhi, Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE) in Gwalior and the microbiology department at the PGI-Chandigarh, have returned negative results, and so has been the case with the samples of water and other food items.