Abdullah Dokadia 40, and his wife,Nasreem, 35, and their two daughters, Ayesha and Zainab , residents of the Moghul building at Mumbai’s pydhonie died Sunday
Hours after hosting a dinner party for relatives at their homes Saturday night , four members of a family in South Mumbai died under mysterious circumstances.
The local JJ Marg police have registered an Accidental Death Report and are investigating the matter.
‘watermelon’ tragedy wipes out Mumbai family relatives in disbelief:
Deputy Commissioner of Police Pravin Mundhe said the relatives did not eat the watermelon that the family ate around 1:00–1:30 AM after the guests left. Around 5:30–6:00 AM on Sunday, all four began experiencing vomiting and loose motions. They were first attended to by the family doctor and then referred to JJ Hospital.
“We have sent samples of the fruit and leftover dinner to the Forensic Science Laboratory,” Mundhe said.
While the elder daughter, Ayesha, died at 10:15 AM Sunday, the youngest one and Nasreen also passed away that day. Abdullah, who owned a mobile accessories shop in Andheri, succumbed at 10:30 PM.
Rais Shaikh, Senior Inspector of JJ Marg police station, said they had recorded the statement of Abdullah before he died. Shaikh said Abdullah told them that they had eaten a watermelon before going to sleep.
The JJ Marg police said they will wait for the forensic report.
A neighbour account
A doctor living in the same building rushed to help when the alarm was raised. What he found inside the flat was grim.
“This incident happened on the second floor and I live on the fourth floor. When I reached there, there were four people inside, including the two daughters and the husband. They were in a drowsy state. One of the daughters was gasping for breath, and the husband—he was panting and had no pulse,” he said.
“As a doctor, I understood the situation and started CPR on her, but she was not reviving. We immediately shifted her to a nearby hospital, but by the time she reached there, she was already dead.”
political reaction
The incident drew a response from Waris Pathan, National Spokesperson of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen.
“In Mumbai, eating watermelon led to the death of four members of the same family. This is an extremely tragic, serious, and heart-wrenching incident.”
