When singer Lata Mangeshkar was given slow poison, it was a close brush with death

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Today is Lata Mangeshkar's 93rd birthday. The iconic singer Lata Mangeshkar was born in the Indore city of Madhya Pradesh, won the hearts of millions for generations through her mystic voice. 

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Lata Mangeshkar sang songs in more than 36 languages in her career spanning almost nine decades, and she was awarded India’s highest civilian honour Bharat Ratna in 2001. Previously Lata got Padma Bhushan in 1969, Padma Vibhushan in 1999 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1989.

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

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Lata Mangeshkar fondly referred to as the nightingale of India had a close brush with death. Not many knew that someone had once tried to kill the singer.

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In her book, Padma, who used to be a regular at Lata's recordings, writes: "Lataji revealed this to me. She was 33 years old in 1963. The singer had severe pain in her abdomen one early morning, and she vomited clear greenish liquid twice or thrice. Due to the pain, Lata could not 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.” 

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In the book, Padma also claims that Lata’s cook then disappeared without a trace and without even collecting his salary.

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“After the incident, Bollywood famous lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri visited 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. 

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In another interview with London-based film writer Nasreen Munni Kabir, Lata shared this deadly event, which further verified the same with Lata's younger sister Usha Mangeshkar.