It was the victim's daughter, on a visit from the US, who observed the pattern and got suspicious. She took her mother to a Colaba hospital for tests, which confirmed the presence of rat poison in her blood
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The Colaba police have arrested a 33-year-old cook for poisoning his 65-year-old employer. The woman, who was clueless about what the accused was doing, used to feel drowsy and sluggish after every meal. It was her daughter, on a visit from the US, who observed the pattern and got suspicious. She took her mother to hospital for tests, which confirmed the presence of rat poison in her blood.
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The two then approached the police and lodged a complaint against the accused, Riyajul Haq Mandal. The complainant Jigiya Khajotiya lives alone in Bakhtwar building, Colaba; her son and daughter live abroad. Since August, the senior citizen had not been keeping well. "It all started from August 6; after every meal she would be on the brink of unconsciousness. Mid-August, her daughter came to Mumbai and noticed the pattern. She took her mother to Tata Hospital," said a cop.
Her blood report, which came in the last week of August, established that there was rat poison in her system. "We arrested Mandal; he confessed to poisoning her," said another officer. Mandal has been booked under IPC section 328 (causing hurt by means of poison) and remanded to police custody.
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