He won the lottery, then he was poisoned to death. A judge's ruling Friday to have Urooj Khan's body exhumed could give his family and police answers about how cyanide got into his system.
The Cook County medical examiner’s office tentatively set Thursday to exhume the body of the million-dollar lottery winner who died of cyanide poisoning, a spokeswoman says.
Mary Paleologos, the spokeswoman, said an autopsy of Ureej Khan’s remains would follow on Friday.
Paleologos said the details were still being worked and that a formal announcement would be made later today.
Chief Medical Examiner Stephen J. Cina is expected to hold a news conference after the autopsy has been finished, Paleologos said, but the final results of the examination likely won’t be available until all the tests have been completed.
Khan’s death is being investigated as a homicide after comprehensive toxicological tests showed he had lethal levels of cyanide in his blood.
Earlier today, Judge Susan Coleman gave a quick OK to the request by the medical examiner’s office to exhume the body at Rosehill Cemetery on Chicago’s North Side.
Court papers said the body was not embalmed, leading prosecutors to indicate that it was “critical” to arrange for the remains to be exhumed as soon as possible.
In an affidavit, Cina said it was necessary to do a full autopsy to “further confirm the results of the blood analysis as well as to rule out any other natural causes that might have contributed to or caused Mr. Khan’s death.”
After the brief court hearing, Khan’s sister, Meraj Khan, and her husband, Mohammed Zaman, were mobbed by reporters, cameramen and photographers about the pending exhumation.
“We’ve been waiting for justice all this time,” Meraj Khan said through tears. “I’m just so glad that justice will be served.”
Still, she said, the thought of having her brother’s remains exhumed is distressing to the entire family.
“This is not rest in peace,” she said. “But it’s an investigation, and hopefully the truth will come out.”
Zaman said the last time they saw Urooj Khan was the day before his death. He came over to their house as usual, talked with their children and left. He seemed happy and healthy, Zaman said.
Meraj Khan recounted that at about 4 a.m. the next day, July 20, she was awakened by a phone call from her brother’s line. It was the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and she thought her brother was up early because of that. Instead, she said, she heard horrible screaming at the other end of the line.
“I couldn’t understand what was happening,” she said. “I heard screaming, and that’s all. So I woke him (Zaman) up. But I still don’t know who made that call.”
He died a short time later at an Evanston hospital.
“It’s hard for me to believe even now,” Meraj Khan said. “How could they do this, whoever did it?”
Meraj Khan and her husband said they could not comment on the police investigation, but they said they knew that at the time of his death, the only people in the home were Khan, his wife, Shabana Ansari, her father Fareedun Ansari, and Khan’s teenage daughter from a previous marriage.
Asked about IRS liens that had been placed against Fareedun Ansari, because of $120,000 in tax debt, Zaman said they were shocked to read about it in the Tribune this week. He said neither Urooj Khan nor Fareedun Ansari ever mentioned it to them.
Zaman said Fareedun Ansari had returned to live with his daughter and Khan last year after he’d moved to New Jersey to run a small convenience store that ultimately failed. He said Fareedun Ansari spent decades working for Urooj Khan’s father in India before coming to Chicago to help out with Khan’s growing dry cleaning and real estate businesses.
Meraj Khan, who last year was granted custody of her brother’s 17-year-old daughter, Jasmeen, said the girl is having a rough time dealing with the mystery surrounding her father’s death and all the recent media attention to the case.
“She’s very devastated. I’m trying to keep her cheerful, but it’s just very hard,” said Meraj Khan, choking back tears. “She’s 17. It’s very hard for her to cope with everything that’s going on.”
jmeisner@tribune.com
Lottery winner's body likely to be exhumed next week
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Lottery winner's body likely to be exhumed next week
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