Lottery winner Urooj Khan was fatally poisoned with cyanide ONE DAY after officials wrote him a check for his $1million ticket

A hardworking immigrant who hit the lottery for $1 million last summer was apparently lethally poisoned with cyanide only a single day after officials cut the check for his winnings.

Urooj Khan, 46, paid $60 for two lottery tickets at a Chicago 7-11 in June, and, upon scratching the second one, reportedly leaped in the air and repeatedly shouted, 'I hit a million!'

Fateful Purchase: Khan spent $60 in June on two Illinois state lottery tickets. The second one he scratched of proved to be the winning ticket

Where he Bought Them: Khan had apparently forswo lotto after a haj to the Middle East in 2010, but broke down to buy the tickets at this 7-11 in June

Days later, with his wife and daughter at his side at the same convenience store in West Rogers Park in which he bought the winning ticket, Khan gleefully - and fatefully - accepted an over sized, mock check from lottery officials, The Chicago Tribune reports.

At the time, he said he was going to utilize the money to pay bills, donate to St. Jude's Children's Hospital and grow his dry-cleaning business, according to WGNtv.com.

A check for the $425,000 in prize money, however, wasn't actually cut until July 19. The next day, or July 20, Khan went to work, as was his wont, reportedly then retued to his home in Chicago's Far North Side, ate dinner and adjoued to bed shortly thereafter.

But the quiescence of Khan's day - and life - was brutally interrupted a short time later when the suddenly wealthy entrepreneur woke up screaming in excruciating pain from his bed.

His frantic widow, Shabana Ansari, and daughter rushed to his side. The stricken Khan was taken to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, where doctors pronounced him dead, according to The Tribune.

Entrepreneur: Khan emigrated to the U.S. during the 1980s, and had saved enough to open three dry cleaning shops (pictured) on Chicago's Far North side

Meanwhile, the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office, which conducted an autopsy, found no sign of foul play. And so he was laid to rest Rosehill Cemetery, The Tribune reports.

But within a week of Khan's death an apparently suspicious and unidentified relative asked the M.E. to look more closely into Khan's death, Medical Examiner Stephen J. Cina told the paper.

The ME subsequently conducted a comprehensive toxicology examination of Khan's corpse, and startlingly determined the Indian immigrant had died from a lethal amount of the poison cyanide.

The Chicago Police Department is now treating Khan's death as a homicide, and is even  considering exhuming his body to lea exactly what happened to the unfortunate immigrant.

Khan emigrated to the U.S. during the 1980s, and through hard work and discipline, reportedly saved sufficiently to open first one - and eventually three Chicago dry cleaning shops.

Routine Interrupted: The day after lottery reps cut an official $425,000 check, Khan awoke screaming in pain in his bed at his Chicago home (pictured)

No Signs of Foul Play: An initial autopsy on Khan performed by the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office found nothing awry. He was later buried

The Tribune reports that he opened the first of his stores in 2004 on a stretch of roadway known for its Indian and Pakistani restaurants, bakeries and bazaars.

The hardworking Khan personally oversaw the day-to-day operations at all three shops, which counted 10 employees, the paper reported. If a worker called in sick, Khan reportedly often handled cleaning and delivery duties in the employee's stead.

'By God's grace, he was a workaholic,' his widow Shabana Ansari told The Tribune. 'Day or night ... he picks up the phone 24/7.

'He made the clients happy by doing his job. He could not be everywhere, but he had to be everywhere.'

The very fact that he bought the winning lottery ticket represents a bit of ironic - and fateful - misfortune.

The Tribune reports that after a 2010 Islamic pilgrimage to the Middle East, Khan forswore his foible, or playing lotto. But, he apparently momentarily lost his will when he purchased the two scratch-off tickets during the summer.

A Good Man: The cashier at the 7-11 where Khan bought his fateful lotto tickets said Khan was a 'gentle' man and a 'nice person' who cared for his family

'It's sad. It's very sad. But I guess it's true when they say that money is the root of all evil,' the 7-11 cashier told WGNtv.com.

'He was very nice. I would never think that anybody, especially around him and in the family, would hurt him,' the cashier reportedly added.

'He was a nice person, very helpful, very gentle, a hardworking person. I mean, in a short time, he came and managed to have three businesses. That tells you what kind of person he was for his family.'

Khan's widow, for her part, refused to be interviwed by The Tribune about her husband's homicide, other than to reportedly say she had cooperated with authorities.

Shabana Ansari, 32, to whom Khan was married for 12 years, told the paper, though that he was, 'extraordinary, nice, kind and lovable.' He was, she said, 'the best husband on the entire planet.'