Article updated: 1/8/2013 10:25 AM

Lottery winner’s cyanide death being investigated

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The Cook County medical examiner said that Urooj Khan was fatally poisoned with cyanide July 20, 2012, a day after he collected nearly $425,000 in lottery winnings.

Associated Press

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Urooj Khan had returned to Chicago from the hajj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia inspired to lead a better life and had sworn off buying lottery tickets — except just this once. The scratch-off ticket was a $1 million winner. But the day after the state issued the check last July, Khan suddenly died, leaving authorities with a baffling mystery and a homicide investigation. After initially ruling that he died of natural causes, the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office now has determined that Khan, 46, ingested a lethal dose of cyanide.

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