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JMO team probing mystery deaths in Dehiwala
The blackened pantry. Pix by Reka Tharangani
The possibility of chemical poisoning causing the deaths of a businessman and three others at their residence on Kawadana road, Dehiwala, is being investigated by a team of Judicial Medical officers.
Colombo South Teaching hospital Consultant JMO Dr. Bandula Abeysinghe, AJMO Dr. Chathura Nandasiri and AJMO Dr. Senarath Prasadini on Wednesday were called to ascertain the cause of death.
Earlier in the day the school van driver who usually picks up the daughter of Hussain Moulana, the 65-year-old businessman, had been tooting the horn, but no one had responded. He then alerted the businessman’s brother who called Mr. Moulana, but still got no response.
The police were then informed and they broke down the door of the house to enter it.
It was a grisly scene that greeted them. Mr. Moulana’s body was slumped in a chair, his wife Mirshida’s (53) body was on the ground of the master bedroom. Their 13- year-old daughter Husna and Mr. Moulana’s neice Misna were lying dead in the living room.
The family was occupying the first floor of the house–a completely airtight area with one of the rooms fitted with an air conditioner.
Dr. Abeysinghe who was at the scene to probe the mysterious deaths told the Sunday Times, “The entire tiled floor was covered with a black dust. There appeared to have been a fire in the pantry. The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) officials who were called in found that a plug base in the kitchen had melted,” he said.
“It appeared that a mobile phone had been plugged onto that particular plug point for charging and the phone placed on the nearby table oven. All had melted,” he said.
Police conduct investigations in the house
“There is a possibility that the plug base had got over heated causing a fire which resulted in nearby plastic containers including the plastic top table catching fire and melting. This would have caused the spread of smoke,” Dr. Abeysinghe he said.
He said the main door keys too had been in the pantry and there were signs that the father and children had tried to reach the keys.
He said there were signs that the householders had struggled after inhaling the fumes.
“We are probing whether death was due to the inhalation of carbon monoxide created by the fire which melted some of the plastic contents,” he said.
“The airtight building may have aggravated the situation,” he said.
The JMO reports are to be submitted for Magisterial inquiry while the Government Analyst’s Department, Police and CEB are due to file further reports into the circumstances of the deaths.
Mr. Moulana has authored several books on self help and on the radicalisation of Islam.
Dr. Bandula Abeysinghe. Pic by Nilan Maligaspe
