Lottery winner poisoned

[Hum]

Urooj Khan had sworn off playing the lottery after he took an Islamic pilgrimage to the Middle East in 2010, but as he stood in a 7-Eleven near his home on Chicago's Far North Side this summer, he lost his will for a moment, handing over $60 to buy two instant-game tickets.

After scratching off the second ticket, he leaped in the air, shouting over and over again, "I hit a million!"

When Khan, 46, accepted an oversized check from Illinois Lottery representatives days later at the same store with his wife and teenage daughter at his side, he spoke excitedly of how the winnings would help him grow his dry-cleaning business.

Instead, Khan is dead, a victim of an extraordinary poisoning, and police have a mystery on their hands: Did his lottery winnings create a motive for murder?

The month after winning the million dollars, Khan died unexpectedly on July 20. Finding no trauma to his body and no unusual substances such as cocaine or carbon monoxide in his blood, the Cook County medical examiner's office declared his death to be from natural causes. He was buried at Rosehill Cemetery.

But Chicago police and county prosecutors are investigating Khan's death as a homicide.

In an interview, Medical Examiner Stephen J. Cina said that within a week of Khan's death a concerned relative asked his office to take a closer look at the case.

By early December, the medical examiner's office determined from comprehensive toxicology tests that Khan had died of a lethal amount of cyanide.

Now authorities are considering exhuming his body to try to find out how much cyanide he ingested or inhaled, Cina disclosed.

While a motive has not been determined yet, police haven't ruled out that Khan was killed because of his big lottery win, a law enforcement source said.

According to an internal police department document, Khan came home from work to his West Rogers Park residence on the night he died. He ate dinner about an hour later and eventually went to bed. He was later heard screaming and was taken to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, where he was pronounced dead, the document said.

His wife and daughter were home when Khan was stricken, according to Cina.

Khan decided to take the winnings in a lump sum ? a little more than $600,000, reduced to $424,449.60 after taxes, according to Michael Lang, a spokesman for the Illinois Lottery.

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[FloatingFatMan]

Umm.. He won a million, so how come he only got $600,000 before taxes?

[Hum]

^ The 'million' was to be paid out over, perhaps 20 years.

He took a lump sum, which is usually half.

Then the Feds take tax off of the $600,000.

You usually get less total tax, when you take the 20-year payout.

I wonder if there is a connection between the lottery money, and his death.

Don't see where his family would have had a motive.

[ArKeYa]

Then he won 600k, not a million.

[threetonesun]

Then he won 600k, not a million.

He won a million if he wanted it.

[FloatingFatMan]

In the EU, you get the full amount, tax free (tax was paid on the ticket you bought).

US lottery winners are not only getting murdered, they're getting robbed!

[Growled Member]

I'm sorry, but the wife would be my first suspect. Who else would even have a motive?

[astropheed Veteran]

I'm sorry, but the wife would be my first suspect. Who else would even have a motive?

Could you imagine if detectives actually said this?

[Dot Matrix]

KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!

[Hum]

The probate court documents, reviewed by The Associated Press on Wednesday, shed no light on the circumstances of Khan's death, but they do add a layer of drama to an already baffling case. As they work to unravel the mystery, police, prosecutors and the medical examiner have revealed little, naming no suspects and declining to say if the lottery win might have presented a motive.

The fact that Khan died without a will opened the door to the legal tussle over his estate, which his wife says amounts to more than $1.2 million, including the prize money, his share of the dry-cleaning businesses and real estate, as well as several vehicles and a bank account.

Under Illinois law, Khan's estate would be split between his wife and 17-year-old daughter from a previous marriage.

However, Khan's brother Imtiaz and sister Meraj Khan expressed concern in court filings that Khan's daughter might not get her fair share. The siblings, who live in the Chicago area, are not staking a claim to any of the money for themselves. They initially won an order from a probate judge in September to freeze the lottery check, asserting his widow tried to cash it.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/01/10/documents-show-battle-over-poisoned-lottery-winner-estate/

[Growled Member]

Of course she tried to cash the check. :D

[Skin]

Could you imagine if detectives actually said this?

oh, they do, they do. just not to the press.

[CatnipOligarchy]

Then he won 600k, not a million.

When you take a lump sum, the amount you are paid is the Net Present Value, calculated based on a projected inflation rate and the number of years across which the payment would have been spread. The idea is that the value $600k today = $1 million over the course of 20 years, after inflation has done its thing.

[Hum]

My bet is on the father-in-law.

[streetw0lf]

Just read that Khan's body is going to be exhumed to find out if any hanky panky was involved. Death has no escape from the Wrath of Khan.

[Growled Member]

My bet is on the father-in-law.

What makes you suspect the father-in-law?

[Hum]

^ The wife seems really upset and loving towards the man. The daughter seems way too young, not likely to understand, or able to obtain cyanide. Plus, she isn't going to inherit any, or much of the dad's money.

The father-in-law is older, wiser, and experienced. And parents many times do not think the man was 'good enuff' for their 'little girl'.

And he had access to the house.

Ansari may have tried to cash the jackpot check after Khan's death, according to court documents, which also showed Urooj Khan's family is questioning if the couple was ever even legally married.

Ansari, Urooj Khan's second wife, who still works at the couple's dry cleaning business, has insisted they were married legally.

She has told reporters the night before her husband died, she cooked a traditional Indian meal for him and their family, including Khan's daughter and Ansari's father. Not feeling well, Khan retired early, Ansari told the Chicago Sun-Times, falling asleep in a chair, waking up in agony, then collapsing in the middle of the night. She said she called 911.

But, it could have been anyone, I suppose.