The widow of a West Rogers Park, Illinois, man who died of cyanide poisoning weeks after winning a $1 million lottery jackpot was questioned extensively by Chicago police last month after the medical examiner's office reclassified the death as a homicide, her attorney said on Tuesday.
Authorities investigating the death of Urooj Khan also executed a search warrant at the home he had shared with his wife, Shabana Ansari, according to Steven Kozicki, her attorney. Ansari later was interviewed by detectives for more than four hours, answering all their questions, the attorney said.
"She's got nothing to hide," Kozicki said.
The mystery surrounding Khan's death has sparked international media interest.
Cook County authorities said Tuesday that they plan to go to court in the next few days for approval to exhume Khan's remains at Rosehill Cemetery. In a telephone interview Tuesday, Medical Examiner Stephen J. Cina said he sent a sworn statement to prosecutors laying out why the body must be exhumed.
"I feel that a complete autopsy is needed for the sake of clarity and thoroughness," Cina said.
Sally Daly, a spokeswoman for the state's attorney's office, confirmed that papers seeking the exhumation would be filed soon in the Daley Center courthouse.
Khan, who owned a dry cleaning business on the city's North Side, died unexpectedly in July at 46, just weeks after winning a million-dollar lottery prize at a 7-Eleven store near his home. Finding no trauma to his body and no unusual substances in his blood, the medical examiner's office declared his death to be from natural causes and he was buried without an autopsy.
About a week later, a relative told authorities to take a closer look at Khan's death. By early December, comprehensive toxicology tests showed that Khan had died of a lethal amount of cyanide, leading the medical examiner's office to reclassify the death a homicide and prompting police and prosecutors to investigate.
While a motive has not been determined, police have not ruled out that Khan was killed because of his big lottery win, a law enforcement source said. He died before he could collect the winnings — about $425,000 after taxes and because he decided to take a lump-sum payment.
According to court records, Khan's brother has squabbled with Ansari over the money in probate court. The brother, Imtiaz, raised concern that because Khan left no will, his 17-year-old daughter from a previous marriage would not get "her fair share" of her father's estate. Khan and Ansari did not have children.
Al-Haroon Husain, an attorney for Ansari in the probate case, said the money was all accounted for and the estate was in the process of being divided up by the court. Under Illinois law, the estate typically would be split evenly between the surviving spouse and Khan's only child, he said.
Kozicki, Ansari's criminal defense attorney, said his client adored her husband and had no financial interest in seeing harm come to him.
"Now in addition to grieving her husband, she's struggling to run the business that he essentially ran while he was alive," Kozicki said. "Once people analyze it, they (would) realize she's in a much worse financial position after his death than she was before."
Reached by phone Tuesday evening at the family dry cleaners, Ansari denied reports that she had fed her husband a traditional Indian meal of ground beef curry before he died. She said he wasn't feeling well after awakening in the middle of the night. She said he sat in a chair and soon collapsed. She then called 911.
Chicago police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, speaking Tuesday at an unrelated news conference, remarked that he had never seen a case like this in 32 years in law enforcement.
"So I'll never say that I've seen everything," he told reporters.
May been the brother.... Family can be shady when it comes to money... That's why they kill him beforcheck got check
Sounds like a close family member.
Clearly a plot from our government to discourage any future gambling activities.
The wife being questioned, is merely a smokescreen to deflect any attention to the covert activities that were carried out.
I wonder, if it was the wife, why didn't she have him cremated ? My first suspect would be the relative who called.
WOW!!! this sounds like Lifetime Movie Network.....
This will end up being a sharia law case........
Was the clerk at the 7-11 that sold him the ticket named Patel?
It may be that his religion did not permit cremation.
Yes, and I believe he was still alive when he got to the hospital. If I poisoned him, I'd wait till he was dead before I called an ambulance just to make sure he didn't make a miraculous recovery at the hospital.
Nice planning. Well thought out.
Thank you very much.
Oh, this medical examiner drama ... perhaps only the chemicals Mr. Ansari worked with during his work day directly or indirectly killed him.
Regardless, next, the Cook County Probate Court's appointed probate administrator/auditor will require that the Ansaris real estate holdings be passed out to heirs or sold (at the worst possible time through massively depreciating %s these past six years), and net monies divied out evenly to his two heirs; causing a huge loss to Mr. Ansari's Probate Estate. A shame.
Good point, I am sure some detective is retracing all his steps from that day.
That makes sense, we'll have this solved in no time.
I still think the wife did it.
Do you ever watch the dumbest criminals ? Maybe she'll be an episode.
Where's Quincy when you need him??
oh..wait
Reached by phone Tuesday evening at the family dry cleaners, Ansari denied reports that she had fed her husband a traditional Indian meal of ground beef curry before he died. She said he wasn't feeling well after awakening in the middle of the night. She said he sat in a chair and soon collapsed. She then called 911.
Hindus dont eat beef, so i guess he was a muslim.
Father in Law owed $120k in back taxes. Hmmm....
Why would that relative who called be a suspect
That's the person who got the ball rolling on this investigation and of course should be
questioned more because this person knows something.
Fox News is reporting the wife tried to cash the lottery check. That really does not prove anything!!
If not her- she knows who did.
cyanide is found naturally in foods:
Lima beans,spinach, beans, almonds, soy.
So cultural testing upon exhumed bodies will not differentiant between cyanide from foods and from "intentional " poisoning.
Good luck to those even making it to trial....
I remain skeptical and intrigued to see how this plays out....
Peace to the family during this saddening time...no one wins when a life is lost.
Yep, TheGameGrl, and also water!
To shed a little light about myself, when and if I should ever win the lottery, I would start a charity group of physicians to commence a stem cell research to help family members overcome the stigmas relating with schizophrenia and mental illnesses and to help the poor in my midst and - currently poor myself... have the basic needs and to have the simple responsibilities of life be met... without trying to take the whole world into my shoulder as some millionaires do... I simply request to be at equitable peace and standing with my family at my custody! and would make the sacrifices to be sure that they are remaining safe... I do not tolerate violent people - and often at times the potty mouth people like to crowd me, and try to overwhelm jealousy around me when good prosperity come my way... I would like to own a house in a place where I am more likely to be respected by others and what I truly stand for... I do not like for people to harass me, or to stonewall false lies about me - that is my true personality about my character... I have no desire to hurt anyone in this world because to how the country and world has to be so involved and or solicited in "money" I would choose to rather help the inlaws, that ran false accusations about my identity of character from the past few years ago who trialed me away from my son wrongfully by accusing me of hurting him/them. I am true to my word, my wife and myself in this matter- and that I pray that no more psychiatrists bother me about this matter... If I were to become wealthy by sudden chance I wish to settle all my claims, and drive a new car for the road of Liberty, and Justice. I am a married man and deeply respect the women of my livelihood - I know nothing about stalking anyone, Leave that word to describe a corn field.
Welcome to Lottery Post, harold4lotto.
I wish you good luck in the lottery and peace in your life.