New Delhi: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has till now been unable to trace any watermelon vendor in south Mumbai’s Pydhonie area, even as it awaits
key laboratory test results in the case involving four family members who died after allegedly consuming a meal that included the fruit, as per The Indian Express report.
It is to be noted that on April 27, Abdullah Dokadia (40), his wife Naseem (35) and their daughters Ayesha (16) and Zainab (13) were admitted to hospital in a semi-conscious condition after they started throwing up. All four reportedly died within hours of one another after having a meal that included watermelon and biryani, reports said.
The FDA teams have been carrying out daily surveys of the area since Sunday but have not succeeded in finding any watermelon vendor. An FDA official was quoted by The Indian Express as saying that by the time investigators first reached the locality around 7 pm on Sunday, watermelon had reportedly “completely disappeared’ from the local markets.
Probe hits a snag
“This is quite a bizarre case, we have never seen anything like this before,” the official said. He added that the agency also examined past records to detect any cases of food poisoning linked to watermelon, or even to a combination of biryani and watermelon, but found no such cases.
The failure to procure fresh samples has stalled a crucial line of probe. The report pointed out that investigators also asked the family’s relatives to trace the source of the watermelon, but they could not provide any details about where the fruit was bought.
As per the report, FDA teams went back to the locality on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, but could find not a single watermelon vendor. The FDA official said tracing the vendor is considered an important step, because if the fruit had been bought locally, others might also have eaten it. However, no similar cases of poisoning have been reported till now.
Lab test results by today
Meanwhile, the agency has collected 11 samples from the family’s house for laboratory analysis. These include leftover watermelon and biryani from the refrigerator, pulao recovered from utensils, raw chicken from the freezer, ingredients such as spices and rice, partially consumed dates and water stored in glasses and a clay pot, the report said.
The lab test results will be out by Thursday. A senior FDA official said the samples had been sent to the agency’s laboratory in Bandra.
However, the report noted that laboratory findings will form only one part of a broader probe. The official underlined that forensic and post-mortem reports would be equally important. A definite cause of death could be determined only after all findings are gathered and analysed together.
According to the report, the FDA is coordinating with the police, the forensic laboratory at Kalina, and the pathology department of JJ Hospital to probe the deaths.
