Ten days after a couple and their two teenage daughters fell seriously ill after eating watermelon at their home in Bidhoni, and died within hours of each other, Mumbai Police are treating the deaths as a possible case of murder or a suicide pact.
A report by the state-run Forensic Science Laboratory, which was submitted Thursday to investigators, said traces of zinc phosphide, a highly toxic rodenticide, were found in viscera samples taken from all four deceased members of the Docadia family.
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Traces of zinc phosphide were also found in watermelon samples taken from the Doukadias’ home, an important discovery because all four family members ate the fruit after having dinner with their relatives. Within hours, Abdullah Dokadia, 40, who ran a mobile phone company in Andheri, his wife Nasreen, 35, and daughters Ayesha, 16, and Zainab, 13, reported nausea, vomiting and shortness of breath. They were taken to hospital but died one by one on the intervening night of April 25 and 26. Abdullahi Dokadia was the last to die and he recorded the events of the evening with the JJ Marg police who were called to the hospital to register a medical case.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Praveen Mumde said that according to the FSL report, traces of rodenticide were found in the liver, kidneys and spleen of the deceased, as well as in stomach contents, bile samples and abdominal fat taken from the bodies.
Mumdi said samples of watermelon eaten by the deceased also tested positive for zinc phosphide, while samples of all other food items eaten at dinner tested negative for the rodenticide. He added that the report will be studied in depth and further investigations will be conducted after consultation with forensic doctors.
The investigation gets direction
The FSL report finally gave direction to the investigation, after police struggled to explain how four healthy members of one family could suddenly fall ill and die within hours of each other. The Docadias had dinner with their extended family at their home that night, but none of their relatives reported any disturbance after the meal.
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“It is a case of poisoning but we are not sure whether it was a suicide pact or whether someone had deliberately planted the poison. This will be determined through further investigation,” said an investigating officer at JG Marg police.
The police took samples of 11 food items from their house, including the chicken biryani that everyone had for dinner that evening.
They also took samples of watermelon that only the four docadia had eaten, drinking water and other foods from their kitchen.
Earlier this week, the Food and Drug Administration confirmed that there was no adulteration in other food items collected from the Doukadias’ kitchen.
The builder, which was in a dilapidated condition, had long suffered from unsanitary conditions and was infested with rodents that came from the open drains that ran alongside the building, Mahmood Qureshi, 59, one of their neighbors, told HT.
“We checked the mobile phones of the family members for any indications of any suicidal ideation, but did not find anything suspicious. The phones were also sent to FSL for further analysis and search for deleted messages. No packaging of any rat poison was found in their house,” the police officer said, prompting investigators to investigate a possible murder case.
