The family of a British national who died under mysterious circumstances in Mombasa has called on the Kenya government through the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) to speed up the investigation into the cause of their kin death Ms Luftunisia Khandwalla.
Lutfunisa Khandwalla, 44, died on August 2, 2020 and was buried the following day at the Memon cemetery in Mombasa.
The deceased met her death while visiting her husband’s relatives in Mombasa, where it was alleged the “devil” killed her as a spiritual leader tried to help her.
Her travel back to the UK was delayed following a lockdown ordered by the Kenyan government to contain the spread of Covid-19.
Ms Khandwalla’s brother, Imran Admani, through his advocate Jacinta Wekesa moved to Mombasa court seeking for exhumation to ascertain the death.
Senior Resident Magistrate Ritah Orora granted the deceased family’s wish and ordered the exhumation after Ms Khandwalla’s family sued, citing foul play.
Exhumation was done two weeks ago and the preliminary findings indicate that Ms Luftunisa Khandwalla’s brain was intact two years after she was buried.
“The brain is shrunken and found inside the opened skull. It was intact. The cause of death unascertained pending histology, toxicology and DNA,” said the report released to the family by government pathologist Johansen Oduor.
Samples taken from the soil in the grave, including remnants of the kidney, urinary bladder and intestines, were taken for toxicology tests.
The medical procedure also found no fracture in the skull and scalp, but most of the soft tissues and muscles had decomposed and could hardly be identified.
“There were areas of fracture on the hyoid bone and thyroid cartilage. These were retained for histological analysis in order to establish if the fracture was post mortem or pre mortem,” said the report.
The shaft of the femur bone (mid shaft) and meniscus cartilage were taken for DNA analysis, while the hyoid bone, thyroid cartilage and brain were taken for histology analysis.
Vital organs such as lungs, heart, liver and other vessels were found to have completely decomposed and were not identifiable.
Ms Khandwalla, who was 44, died on August 2, 2020 and was buried the same day without the cause of death being established.
It was alleged that she was given a chemical used for freezing by a spiritual leader, who had told her that it would cure her ailments, after which she died.
Her family had been told that she was killed by the devil, prompting them to seek the medical procedure to settle the matter.
Imran says the findings were shocking after the said organs were found not to have decomposed after two years of burial.
“How can the organs be intact when the rest of the body parts are decomposed and the thyroid was fractured which means there was strangulation,” said Imran.