Woman Guilty of Murdering Former Lover with Poison Curry
44-year-old Lakhvir Kaur Singh is facing life in jail after she murdered her former lover in 2008. The woman, who has 3 children, sneaked into the man’s house and sprinkled a deadly ancient herb called Indian aconite on a curry. Lakhvinder Cheema, 36, and his fiancee, Gurjeet Choough, now 22, were eating the dish together while they talked about their Valentine’s Day wedding, which was planned for last year.
Related by marriage, Singh and Cheema kept their affair secret as to not shame their families, but Cheema ended the 16-year affair in November 2008, announcing that he wished to start a family and get married to Choough. Shortly after, Singh took a trip to Indian, which is where she is suspected to have gotten the deadly herb, then Cheema fell ill only a few days after her return but made a full recovery after being in the hospital for a week.
When Cheema continued with his plans to marry Choough, Singh continued with her own plans, slipping the deadly herb into the curry. After only a few minutes of eating the poison, the couple lost their sight, as well as control of their arms and legs. Cheema was able to tell someone that he thought Singh poisoned him since he had symptoms like that before, but he died an hour after arriving at the hospital. Choough survived and just woke up after being in a coma for the last 2 years.
Singh’s husband was out of the country receiving cancer treatment when the murder occurred. She says that she had 3 abortions and sacrificed everything for Cheema. But on Wednesday, a court found her guilty of his murder and intent to cause grievous bodily harm to Choough. This is the first time that someone has been convicted of using aconite to murder someone since 1882, when Dr. George Lamson killed his brother-in-law and was hanged upon conviction.