A shocking case has emerged from Bengaluru, India, where a woman named Vidya alleged before her death that her husband injected mercury into her body while she was asleep. After undergoing continuous treatment for nine months, Vidya died earlier this month. Doctors confirmed that mercury poisoning had severely damaged multiple organs in her body.
According to media reports, Vidya lived with her husband, Basavaraj, in the Attibele area of Bengaluru. In her statement to police, she said that on the night of 26 February she went to sleep and woke up only the following evening. Upon waking, she experienced severe pain in her right thigh and suspected that she had been injected with something. Soon after, her leg became swollen, making it difficult for her to walk.
As her condition worsened, Vidya visited the Attibele government hospital on 7 March. She was later referred to Oxford Hospital in Bengaluru, where initial tests revealed mercury poisoning. Surgical samples were collected and laboratory tests confirmed the presence of mercury in her body.
In her testimony, Vidya alleged that Basavaraj had been supplied with mercury, syringes and chloroform by a laboratory technician couple working at SLN Diagnostic Centre. She also accused her father-in-law, Mariswamachari, of assisting in the act.
Vidya claimed the injection was administered with the intention of killing her. She reported enduring prolonged physical and mental abuse, humiliation and neglect. According to her statement, her husband frequently called her “mentally unstable,” confined her at home and prevented her from visiting relatives.
After more than a month of treatment at Oxford Hospital, she was shifted to Victoria Hospital. Doctors stated that mercury toxicity had affected her entire body, including severe kidney damage, which required dialysis. Despite prolonged treatment for nine months, she eventually succumbed to her condition.
The couple has a four-year-old child.
GLIVE/TSN