A British mother sentenced to death by hanging for murdering her husband after poisoning his biryani has launched an appeal against her conviction.
Ramandeep Kaur Mann, from Derby, was found guilty of colluding with her lover to murder her husband Sukhjit Singh, 34, while they were on holiday in India.
She laced his biryani dinner with sedatives and slit his throat as he slept in the marital bed during a trip to the country with their two children in 2016.
Her eldest son Arjun, who was aged nine at the time, witnessed the crime and was the key prosecution witness, giving gripping testimony in court as his mother looked on.
Mann, 39 was convicted in October 2023 with her son’s evidence proving to be crucial.
In her appeal, Mann’s lawyers have claimed that her son was ‘tutored’ to provide false testimony that he witnessed his mother kill his father.
The appeal document, seen by claims that Arjun, now aged 18 was told what to say by his grandmother Bans Kaur, Sukhjit’s mother and Mann’s mother-in-law, who colluded with police and other relatives to fabricate the case against her.
It states: ‘The statement of Arjun is a tutored piece of evidence manufactured by the investigating officer with the first informant (Bans Kaur).’
It adds that the trial judge did not take into consideration that Arjun provided his statement three years after the murder took place during which time, alleging he was coached what to say he saw by his grandmother and an uncle and aunt.
Mann’s lawyers claim: ‘The Learned Trial Court while convicting the appellant has failed to take note of the fact that the testimonies of all the witnesses are full of concoctions, embellishments and improvements at every stage.’
They add: ‘The entire allegations that has been levelled against the appellant (Mann) is false and preposterous and hold no iota of truth in them and the appellant has been falsely implicated in the present case.’
They also claim that there is no evidence that Mann was having an affair with Gurpreet Singh, Sukhjit’s childhood friend and that this was introduced by his family as ‘an afterthought.’
In other astonishing claims, Mann’s lawyers maintain that the trial judge was influenced in passing a death sentence because she hailed from a ‘very influential family,’ attended court in ‘expensive cars’ and had a stand-up row with her mother-in-law as the trial was taking place.
They add: ‘The Prosecution case against her is not only highly improbable but also absurd.’
Mann has always denied the killing claiming that she was framed by her husband’s family and that they murdered Sukhjit as they wanted to prevent him from selling 21 acres of land he owned in India.
Mann’s appeal comes as fresh pictures emerged of her exhibiting artwork and meeting local dignitaries as her reputation as an artist grows while she languishes behind bars.
Mann is being housed in Shahjahanpur District Jail in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh where she is sharing a dormitory-style cell with 55 other female prisoners.
She recently met local officials visiting the jail at a ceremony to mark India’s Republic Day just weeks after participating in a Christmas celebration of her prison artwork. Charity workers have also been visiting the institution to view a colourful collection of paintings and drawing she has completed.
Bans Kaur, Sukhjit’s mother told : ‘It’s ridiculous to suggest that I “tutored” Arjun and got him to lie. He gave a very long statement which had a lot of detail in it. How could we have got him to make all this up How can you tell any teenager what to say?
‘We will be challenging this appeal because there is no doubt that this woman murdered my son.’
Responding to the emergence of Mann as prolific prison artist, she said: ‘She is a cunning and evil woman, and I don’t believe for one minute she has changed. This is all being done for her appeal against the death sentence and is an attempt to win favour with the jail authorities. It’s absolutely disgusting.’
Following Mann’s conviction, Arjun told that he had no regrets about giving evidence against her and that he wanted to watch her being hanged.
He chillingly described how he saw his mother smother his father with a pillow before her lover hit him over the head with a hammer and then she slit his throat.
Arjun was awoken on the night of the murder while he slept in an adjoining bed to his father as he did not eat the biryani laced with sedatives, which his younger brother Aaron, then aged 5, ate.
He said: ‘There are not many children who watch their mother kill their father and then give evidence about it. How do you try and get on with your life after something like this?
‘I’ve had to be very brave and I’m proud of what I’ve done because I’ve got justice for my father.
‘My brother and me don’t think of this woman as my mother anymore, she’s evil.
‘We want nothing to do with her. As far as I’m concerned, she stopped being a mother to us the moment she murdered our father.’
Commenting on her death sentence, which in India is usually carried out by hanging he said: ‘I would like to be there when it happens. It doesn’t fill me with fear, in fact, it would give me a lot of satisfaction and relief and I look forward to that day. I would like all my family to be there with me.
‘I would like to see with my own eyes that justice for my father has been served. She deserves to hang because she did such an evil thing she did.’