Chmbal, Jan 10: The banks of the river Chambal resemble a mortuary. Already on the critically endangered list, the Indian gharial is fighting a mystery disease. Over 100 gharials have died in the last six weeks.

Well-known wildlife film-maker Naresh Bedi, among the first to reach the spot, was shocked at what he saw.

"Their reflexes were not working. They were trying to keep their head up above the water. Their eyes were closed. So, I don't know what they were suffering from," he said.

Post-mortem results show presence of lead in the dead bodies. But if the gharials died from lead poisoning why did it not affect other wildlife in the Chambal like the crocodile or migratory birds?

The Chambal, in fact, has the largest breeding population of the gharials.

"Anything that affects the gharial even in a small way, in this case, it's not small because over 50 animals have died and they are all either sub-adults or adults. It is very serious," says reptile expert Romulus Whitaker.

A media report a year ago showed how the Chambal habitat was being destroyed by sand-mining.

Fishermen too, often chop the head and tail of gharials that get entangled in their nets. With this latest epidemic, gharials are in danger of being wiped out completely.

"We have created a CMG, so to say crisis management group and our team have been identified in that," says Chief Wildlife Warden, P B Gangopadhyay.

The Environment Ministry has called in experts but with no one being able to name the killer disease, the future remains grim for the surviving gharials.