Chandigarh, Jan 4 (IANS) A domestic help who tried to poison his employer, a woman, and her son by lacing their chapattis with mercury, was Friday sentenced to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment by a court here.
The accused, Kuldeep Singh, who was a domestic help in the house of Shavinder Kaur, 72, wife of a former judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, was convicted by the court for serving mercury-laced food to Kaur and her son, Amarpal Singh in October 2011.
Kuldeep, who hails from Punjab’s Bathinda district, was booked for attempt to murder in June 2012. The case was filed only after the mercury content was established by the forensic sciences laboratory.
In his complaint, Amarpal Singh said that the servant had broken a thermometer in the house and added the mercury to the chapattis. Kaur saw something shiny as she was going to eat food and suspecting that Kuldeep had done something, sent the chapattis for forensic tests.
The servant had been working with Shavinder Kaur’s household for over eight years.
Additional District and Sessions Judge V.P. Sirohi also imposed a fine of Rs.10,000 on the servant.
