Ill. lottery winner reburied after autopsy

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CHICAGO, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- The body of an Illinois lottery winner exhumed to determine if he had died by cyanide poisoning has been reburied, officials said.

The remains of Urooj Khan were quietly re-interred Monday afternoon in a Chicago-area cemetery after his exhumation Friday was attended with massive media attention, the Chicago Tribune reported Tuesday.

Mohammed Zaman, a relative of Khan's, said the exhumation was difficult on the family.

"The sad part is that he wasn't resting in peace," Zaman told reporters shortly before the reburial. "Now we have to bury him back again. For any religion, it's hard."

The medical examiner's office initially ruled Khan's death in July was from natural causes. However, a relative raised questions about his death and later testing found toxic levels of cyanide.

In November, the medical examiner ruled Khan's death was a homicide and requested his body be exhumed so another autopsy could be conducted to determine whether Khan ate or inhaled the poison.

Results of the autopsy are not expected for several weeks.