Deaths after eating watermelon: Food samples sent to lab; suicide angle too under probe

Samples of a watermelon, chicken pulao and other foods eaten by a family of four who died of suspected food poisoning here have been sent for chemical analysis, police said on Tuesday.

It is also being investigated whether the family was under any kind of stress and whether it was a case of suicide, an official said.

The Dokadia family, residents of Ghari Mohalla on Ismail Kurte Road in south Mumbai, had hosted a get-together of relatives on Saturday night.

At around 1 am, hours after the guests had left, Abdullah Dokadia (40), his wife Nasreen (35), and daughters Ayesha (16) and Zaineb (13) ate pieces of a watermelon.

All suffered severe bouts of vomiting and diarrhoea in the early hours of Sunday and were rushed to a local hospital before being referred to the government-run J J Hospital where all four died during treatment, said the police official.

A forensic team combed the Dokadia residence on Tuesday morning to collect samples of every food item that constituted the family's last meal, including 'chicken pulav', watermelon, water, and other foodstuffs, and sent them to the Forensic Science Laboratory at Kalina, the police official said.

Officials of J J Marg police station recorded the statements of the five guests who had attended the get-together. The guests told police that they all had consumed the pulav but did not experience any ill-effects, the official said.

Prima facie it was a case of food poisoning, but police are also investigating if it was a case of suicide by a family and examining Abdullah Dokadia's bank statements to check whether he was under stress due to financial reasons, the official added.

Although autopsies have been conducted, doctors have reserved their opinion, and the viscera of the four bodies have been sent for chemical analysis, the official said.