Mystery over death of 4 of Mumbai family hours after having watermelon | India News
MUMBAI: A Saturday night feast turned tragic when four members of a family – two sisters and their parents – died within hours of eating a watermelon. Five other relatives shared the biryani-pulao with them at 10.30 pm and did not show any symptoms, but all four ate the fruit around 1 am on Sunday, police said. The deceased residents of Vendy Bazaar are Abdullah Dodakia (44), who owns a mobile phone accessories shop in Andheri, his wife Nasreen (35), and daughters Ayesha (16) and Zainab (12). Doctors at JJ Hospital, where three of the victims received treatment, were equally shocked. They said it was “highly unlikely” that a single stale watermelon could have caused four deaths at such close intervals and that all medical efforts to save them would have failed. The series of deaths started with Zainab at around 10.30 am, followed by Nasreen three hours later, Ayesha at 5.15 pm and Abdullah at 10.15 pm.
Doctors are confused
A doctor involved in their care at JJ Hospital said the three had symptoms of food poisoning and their kidneys were severely affected. JJ Marg police have registered four cases of accidental death, investigation is on. They said Abdullah’s brother and other relatives stayed nearby and all left for their homes soon after the feast. Statements of Abdullah and Ayesha have been recorded. They said they had vomiting and diarrhea after eating watermelon. No foul play is suspected so far. The postmortem and forensic report is awaited,” said a police officer. A sample of the watermelon has been sent for testing. Both sisters were waiting for their test results; Ayesha was expected to pass Class XII with flying colours, and Zainab was all set to join Class IX, police said. Between 5am and 5.30am on Sunday, all four started showing symptoms of vomiting along with severe discomfort. The family lived on the second floor of the Mughal Building in Ghati Gali. Chaos erupted on their floor between 9.30am and 10am on Sunday, prompting neighbors to call the fourth-floor homeopath, Zaid Qureshi, who said Zainab was foaming at the mouth and her pulse was undetectable, and three other family members were semi-conscious. Attempts by TOI to reach him were unsuccessful till press time. One by one, the neighbors took the family members to the hospital. Zainab was declared brought dead when they were taken to Sabu Siddique Hospital. Abdullah and Nasreen were shifted to JJ Hospital, followed by Ayesha. Dr Sanjay Surese, medical superintendent of the hospital, said, “It is very unlikely that stale watermelon could be so fatal. There could be some additive or something else entirely. At this point, we are not ruling out any possibility.“ Nasreen died two hours after admission. Ayesha was shifted to the ICU after her father. They died about five hours apart. (with input from Rachel Varghese)
