A Chicago man died of cyanide the day after his $1 million lottery check was issued, and his widow and siblings fought over the estate

Urooj Khan, 46, owned dry-cleaning businesses in Chicago. In June 2012 he won $1 million on a scratch-off ticket bought at a 7-Eleven. He took a lump sum; the state's check after tax was $424,449. He died on 20 July 2012, a day after the check was issued and before he received it. A relative said he vomited blood that day. The medical examiner first ruled natural causes. A relative asked for more tests, and in January 2013 the office found a lethal level of cyanide and ruled the death a homicide. The body was exhumed in February 2013, but decomposition prevented further findings, and the medical examiner could not say how the cyanide was given. Khan left no will. His widow, Shabana Ansari, and his siblings fought over an estate of about $2 million. Ansari's lawyer showed an agreement signed on 2 May 2012 naming her beneficiary of Khan's share in a dry-cleaning business. His brother Imtiaz called it "nonsense" and said Khan's 17-year-old daughter from an earlier marriage would not get her fair share. After a contested probate case the estate, including the lottery check, was divided between the widow and the daughter. Police interviewed the wife, the daughter and the father-in-law. Khan's sister Meraj says the wife and father-in-law were involved; both deny it. In June 2016 police called it "very much an open and active investigation." No one had been charged as of that report, the latest found.