Washington: The widow of an Indian-origin USD 1 million Chicago lottery winner, who was poisoned with cyanide before he collected his prize, has said that her husband was a `good person` who did not have any enemies.
Shabana Ansari has opened up about losing her 46-year-old husband Urooj Khan, who immigrated to the US from India in 1989.
Describing Khan as a hard-working, generous man who would send money to orphanages in their native country, Ansari said her husband`s death devastated her, adding that she cannot fathom that he had any adversaries, the Daily Mail reports.
She did not talk about the mysterious circumstances under which her husband died, saying it was too painful. But she hoped that the truth will come out in the homicide investigation.
Khan`s death on July 20 was initially ruled a result of natural causes.
A relative`s request for a deeper investigation into Khan`s death revealed the father-of-one was poisoned, as he was about to collect USD 425,000 in winnings.
Further tests revealed that Khan, of Chicago`s North Side, died due to cyanide poisoning and his body is set to be exhumed so his final meal can be examined, the report added.
Chicago police Superintendent Garry McCarthy told reporters on Tuesday that he had never seen anything like Khan`s case in his 32 years of policing in New York, New Jersey and now Chicago.
Prosecutors, Chicago police and the Cook County Medical Examiner`s Office are investigating Khan`s death as a homicide, but they have not given any details or announced any suspects.
Khan won USD one million on the Illinois State Lottery last June but was about to collect his winnings in July.
No arrests have so far been made.
ANI
