When Lata Mangeshkar was given slow poison for a year, here's what happened next

Veteran writer Padma Sachdev, who was very close to singer Lata Mangeshkar, had written a book in which she has revealed for the first time that the singer was given slow poison. 

Veteran singer Lata Mangeshkar has sung tens of thousands of songs as a playback singer. She is fondly referred to as the nightingale of India. However, not many of us are not aware that someone had once tried to kill the Bharat Ratna awarded singer. 

In the book ‘Aisa Kahan Se Laaoon’, the writer has disclosed for the first time that Lata was given slow poison in 1963. Miraculously, the singer survived.

In her book, Padma, who used to be a regular at Lata's recordings, wrote: "Lataji revealed this to me. She was 33 years old in 1963. One early morning, the singer had severe pain in her abdomen, and she vomited clear greenish liquid twice or thrice. Due to the pain, Lata was not able to move her limbs, and her entire body was in pain. For three days, she had a close brush with death. After ten days, her health began to improve. The doctor told her that somebody gave her slow poison.” 

In the book, Padma claimed that Lata Mangeshkar’s cook then vanished without a trace, and without even collecting his salary. 

“After the incident, Bollywood famous lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri used to visit Lataji at her home daily at 6 pm. Majrooh first used to taste the food and then allow Lata to eat. He used to recite poems and stories to keep Lata in good humour,” Padma said. 

Lata had also revealed this deadly incident in another interview to London-based film writer Nasreen Munni Kabir, who further verified the same with Lata's younger sister Usha Mangeshkar.