KARACHI: Police investigators have “almost reached a conclusion” in the case of the death of two minor brothers last month after results of three different laboratories commonly found “bacteria in the consumed food” which led to their demise, official sources said on Tuesday.

They said the police investigators had formally received reports from the Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA) in Lahore, Hussain Ebrahim Jamal (HEJ) Research Institute of Chemistry at the University of Karachi and findings of examination of food conducted by the Sindh Food Authority through an independent organisation.

“All three reports rule out any case of poisoning or cyanide substance in the examination,” said a source close to the police investigation progress. “However, all three institutions refer to bacteria found in candy floss and chicken chips the children had consumed from two difference places the night before their death. The children had bought the candies at a shop outside an amusement park located in Phase IV, DHA, and they had dinner at a restaurant located in the Zamzama area.”

Police refer the reports to pathologists for technical analysis

He said the police had sent at least 30 samples of eatables and other things collected from the house of the deceased brothers. These samples pertained to milk, water, their vomit and clothes, etc, which were sent for a thorough examination, he added. Besides, he said, four other samples related to the children’s post-mortem examination were preserved for examination so that the exact cause of the deaths could be ascertained.

“The reports suggest that the bacteria-affected food caused severe damage to the kidneys of the two brothers after they suffered [from repeated] vomiting,” he said. “The [bacteria-affected food] led to an acute shortage of blood in their kidneys. It turned so severe that the blood pressure of their bodies went too low. Another reason also taken into account is reaction of the family to the children’s frequent vomiting. They did not react [in time] while preferring home remedies and went to hospital very late.”

He said the police had sent the reports to some known pathologists of the city to seek their technical analysis before making anything public and finalising the report.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2018