Lottery winner dies by cyanide poisoning a month after winning

Urooj Khan died suddenly in July, just a day after getting the first part of his $1 million lottery prize. Authorities had originally said that he died of natural causes, but Chicago police said Monday that he had actually been poisoned.

Khan had won the prize from a scratch ticket he purchased on June 26, reports CNN. After taxes, the prize amounted to $425,000 and he went to pick up the check on July 19, but he never got a chance to spend a dime.

According to police documents obtained by the Chicago Tribune, on July 20, he had dinner and went to bed. His family heard him screaming and he was pronounced dead at the hospital. Initially, the cause of death was heart disease. But now police say it was much more sinister than that.

The medical examiner now says that he died of cyanide poisoning.

A relative had asked that his death be investigated further, which prompted the new conclusion. “That ... led us to issue an amended death certificate that (established) cyanide toxicity as the cause of death, and the manner of death as homicide," Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Steve Cina said Monday.

“We are investigating it as a murder, and we're working closely with the medical examiner's office,” Chicago police spokeswoman Melissa Stratton told reporters.

His wife, Ansari, spoke to the Tribune, confirming that she did speak to police about her husband’s death. She called him “the best husband on the entire planet.”