Chicago police probe mystery death of Indian-origin lottery winner

Yoshita Singh

Police in Chicago are investigating the mysterious murder of an Indian-origin businessman a day after he collected a million dollar lottery prize last year. It is now suspected he died of poisoning by cyanide.

Urooj Khan, 46, owned a dry-cleaning business in Chicago and had won an Illinois Lottery scratch ticket in June last year. On July 20, 2012, a day after he received the cheque, Khan was found dead.

Initially, the Cook County medical examiner's office ruled he died of natural causes. However, Khan's relatives had asked officials to re-examine his death, and new screening results show a lethal amount of cyanide was present in Khan's system, prompting police to investigate the death as homicide. No arrests have been made so far.

Khan had got a cheque of $425,000, his actual winnings after taxes on July 19. The night after, Khan had gone to bed after dinner. His family, including his wife and a daughter, said they heard him screaming later and took him to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

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