Woman arrested for trying to kill salesman at New Alipore

Kolkata: A woman allegedly tried to kill a salesman working at a reputed chimney company by mixing poison in his tea when he came to collect the payment for installation of the device along with a water purifier in the former's residence at New Alipore in South Kolkata.

The woman, Madhumanti Saha, was arrested by New

Alipore police on the basis of a complaint lodged by another employee, Somnath Mondal, who was accompanying the victim Amit Chakraborty when he had gone to take the payment on Friday evening.

According to sources, the woman had installed a chimney and a water purifier in her residence in the month of July. She had handed over two cheques — one that had July 25 date and the other had July 30 for the purpose of payment of Rs 40,000 for both the installations. Both of the cheques bounced.

"We called her a number of times since August 5 for the payment and she kept on telling us that we should contact later as one of her close relatives was hospitalised. Finally, she asked us to come to her residence on Friday evening and told us that she would pay cash. I, along with my branch manager Chakraborty, went to her residence. She offered us tea and soon after drinking it, my senior colleague became senseless," Mondal said.

When Mondal tried to call his office, the woman allegedly snatched his cellphone and set two dogs on him. He somehow managed to get out of the house by pushing the woman who stood blocking the door and went straight to New Alipore police station seeking assistance. He also informed his office colleagues. The police rushed to the apartment, rescued Chakraborty and admitted him to a nearby private hospital. A senior official of the chimney company said that people often complain of disturbance from salesmen.

"We have to provide door-to-door service for the kind of work we do. Now, we will have to think twice before drinking even a glass of water," he added.