Food poisoning: Police register FIR against restaurant owners

KARACHI:

The police on Friday evening registered an FIR against the owners of the restaurant that allegedly caused the death of a girl due to a contaminated burger last week.

Thirteen-year-old Kanza Ahmed, a student of Class VIII, died on January 28 while her mother and two younger siblings fell ill after consuming what the family claimed were poisonous burgers from Dilpasand Sweets in North Nazimabad.

The case was registered on behalf of Kanza’s father M Ahmed Bari. The police had earlier refused to register the case, saying that it was awaiting the chemical examination report.

“In such cases, we need a chemical report but we registered the FIR on court orders,” inquiry officer DSP Altaf Hussain told The Express Tribune. “We are still waiting for the report, since it is the only forensic evidence for the case.”

He added that if the report stated that the burger was not contaminated, the FIR would have no legal value and the case will be closed. “However, if it confirms that the burger was poisonous, we will arrest the restaurant owners nominated in the FIR.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 8^th, 2015.