Evil mum who spiked biryani to murder husband caught after son skipped meal

19 October 2023 , 08:42

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Sukhjeet Singh (left) with his wife Ramandeep Kaur Mann, who murdered him after spiking his favourite meal (Image: SUBMITTED)

A British mum facing being hanged after murdering her husband in a spiked biryani plot was only caught because her son didn't eat it.

Ramandeep Kaur Mann hatched the plot with her lover to murder Sukhjeet Singh, by lacing his meal with sleeping pills. Lover Gurpreet Singh then snuck in while they slept, before they smothered 34-year-old Mr Singh and slit his throat.

Mann, 38, from Derby, had been at her mother-in-law's holiday home in India with her husband and sons when she carried out the evil act in 2016, which a court heard was to claim £2million life insurance. She was found guilty in India, with a judge on Saturday describing it as the "rarest of the rare".

Horrifyingly, Mann's eldest son Arjun - then just nine - told how he witnessed the attack whilst he slept in the same room. The court heard youngest son Aryan, six, had also eaten the biryani, but Arjun hadn't and was woken by the sound of his dad struggling.

His account was able to secure her conviction, after he told the court he saw his mum smothering his dad in the bed they were sharing, then watched in horror as she straddled him before Gurpreet hit him on the head with a hammer. It was then Mann who slit his throat.

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Cheating mum Ramandeep murdered her husband in a desperate bid to claim his life insurance money (Facebook)

Sources at Shahjahanpur District Court where Mann was tried said she sat emotionless in the dock as her eldest son gave the harrowing evidence which was able to convict her. Mann could be sentenced to death by hanging, while Gurpreet was spared the death penalty and sentenced to life imprisonment with a fine of 300,000 rupees (£3,000).

Gurpreet Singh had been a childhood friend of victim Sukhjeet's, but struck up an affair with Mann the year before during a family holiday in Dubai where he lived. The Mail reports how construction worker Gurpreet had showed the family around during the trip, reconnecting with his childhood friend and striking up a romance with Mann.

The illicit affair continued behind his friend's back following the trip, with Gurpreet and Mann keeping in touch over WhatsApp before they went on to plot how to get her husband out of the picture. They decided to stay at Sukhjeet's mother's home in September 2016 where Gurpreet would join them.

Ashok Khanna, lawyer for Mr Singh's family, told MailOnline how the crime "was being plotted by Mann while she was in the UK and Gurpreet in Dubai". Mann was based in Derby, but had previously lived in Slough, Berkshire, marrying her husband in 2005.

Mr Khanna added: "Mann has not shown any remorse and has been very arrogant from the moment she was arrested. She deserves this punishment because this is a woman who drugged her own husband and children so that she could kill him. Who does that kind of thing?"

Gurpreet Singh had rekindled his friendship with the victim before going behind his back

He added: "But it wasn't just wanting to be with Gurpreet that motivated her. She also stood to make a lot of money from his death." Superintendent Ashok Kumar Meena of Shahjahanpur Police said victim Mr Singh was "lured" to India from the UK where he was murdered, with Mann and Gurpreet mistakenly believing they were more likely to get away with the crime there.

"Not only Sukhjeet was murdered but the remaining years of an elderly widow was killed, the childhood as well as the youth of two minor children was exterminated. The children have lost the happiness which they had when their father was alive."

Reacting to the verdict, Sukhjeet’s mother told reporters outside the court that she was pleased her son's killer had been given capital punishment. She said: “I feel relieved. My prayers were answered and I got what I was expecting from the court. I was demanding capital punishment for Ramandeep so that no mother’s child dies like this."

A court judgement was reported to have said that Mann stood to gain hugely from a life insurance policy in Mr Singh’s name - and various property the couple had in England and India. After the cold-blooded killing, Gurpreet was reportedly arrested at Delhi airport, trying to board a flight back to Dubai. Meanwhile, Mann was arrested at her mother-in-law’s home after police found the bloody knife used for the killing in the bushes close to where she was staying.

Susie Beever