Karachi food poisoning case: Parents forgive suspects, decline to pursue further action

Published January 14, 2019
Minor brothers, Ahmad, 1.5-years-old, and Muhammad, 5-years-old, had died in November 2018 after the family dined out at Zamzama's Arizona Grill restaurant and afterwards consumed candy from a shop outside an amusement park on Seaview. ─ DawnNewsTV
Minor brothers, Ahmad, 1.5-years-old, and Muhammad, 5-years-old, had died in November 2018 after the family dined out at Zamzama's Arizona Grill restaurant and afterwards consumed candy from a shop outside an amusement park on Seaview. ─ DawnNewsTV

The parents of two Karachi children ─ who had died last year after consuming food from an upscale restaurant ─ told the court on Monday that they had forgiven those responsible and didn't want to initiate further action against the suspects.

The minor brothers, Ahmad, 1.5-years-old, and Muhammad, 5-years-old, had died in November 2018 after the family dined out at Zamzama's Arizona Grill restaurant and afterwards consumed candy from a shop outside an amusement park on Seaview. The children had started vomiting after consuming food which caused dehydration, kidney failure and eventually death.

Police had initiated a probe into the matter and the restaurant was sealed for forensic investigation. Multiple samples of food collected from the restaurant, the victims' house as well as from the bodies were sent to the Punjab Forensic Science Agency as well as SGS Korangi for examination.

A Sindh High Court bench on Monday resumed hearing the bail application of the two suspects arrested in the case.

The parents of the deceased children appeared in court today and said they had forgiven those responsible and didn't wish to take any further action.

The lawyer for the restaurant also apprised the court of a compromise being reached between both parties.

A lab report that the court had earlier asked for was submitted in court today by the Sindh Food Authority. The report concluded that the children had died of poisoning. It explained that there was a high quantity of E.coli bacteria found in the expired meat recovered from the restaurant.

An SFA official told the court that the cause of death was the ingestion of a large quantity of E.coli, according to the lab report.

The court ordered copies of the settlement to be submitted to the trial court.

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