source: BBC
Nearly three weeks after an Indian family of four were found dead in their home, investigators tell the BBC they are no closer to knowing what actually happened.
The Dokadia family – Abdullah, his wife Nasreen and their two daughters Ayesha and Zainab – were found dead at their home on 25 April in Mumbai’s Pydhonie area.
When the news broke, Indian media quickly dubbed the case “watermelon deaths”, after the last thing the family had eaten before their deaths.
The deaths received incessant media coverage in India, with lots of headlines advising caution while eating what is one of India’s most popular summer fruits.
Reports claimed the fruit was either adulterated or had been poisoned and that the couple and their teenaged daughters died because they consumed it late at night. This even led to a crash in watermelon prices in Mumbai’s fruit markets after demand plummeted.
There was also a lot of speculation over whether the deaths were accidental or intentional.
Last week, police in Mumbai said forensic tests had shown it was zinc phosphide – an extremely toxic chemical commonly used to kill rats – that killed the Dokadias. They said it was found in their organs and the remnants of the fruit.
But despite the revelation, the case is far from being solved and there are many unanswered questions.
