An unsolved mystery: The time when Lata Mangeshkar was slowly poisoned

What happened to Lata Mangeshkar that day?

Lataji revealed this to me (Padma Sachdev). She told me, she was 33 years old in 1962. One early morning, she had a severe pain in her stomach, and she vomitted greenish clear liquid twice or thrice. She said, she was not in a position to move her limbs, and her entire body was in pain." [sic]

Doctor’s shocking revelation to Lata Mangeshkar

"Lataji's doctor was called. He came with an x-ray machine to check her, and gave her an injection to render her unconscious, because Lataji was in pain. For three days, Lataji had a close brush with death. After ten days, she began to recover. The doctor told her that somebody gave her slow poison." [sic]

Lata Mangeshkar’s cook disappeared without a trace

"The most surprising thing was that soon after the incident, the cook who used to work at Lataji's home, suddenly vanished without taking his wages. The cook had earlier worked with some Bollywood people." [sic]

Lata Mangeshkar was bedridden

"The slow poison incident rendered Lataji very weak. She was bed-ridden for nearly 3 months. She was asked to take cold soup with ice cubes, because of pain in her intestines." [sic]

The company of a true friend

"After the incident, Bollywood lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri used to regularly visit Lataji at her home daily at 6 pm. Majrooh used to first taste the food and then allow Lata to eat. He used to recite poems and stories to keep Lata in good humour." [sic] In picture above: Lata Mangeshkar with late singer Mohammed Rafi and lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri.

Lata Mangeshkar returns to recording studio

Post her treatment and being bedridden for three months, Lata Mangeshkar returned to studio. The first song she recorded after this incident was ‘Kahin Deep Jale Kahin’ for film ‘Bees Saal Baad’ (1962). Composed by Hemant Kumar and penned by Shakeel Badayuni, this song went on to fetch Lata Mangeshkar the prestigious Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer.