Mohali, Feb. 19 -- When Sunny Enclave resident Rachna Kapoor lovingly prepared panjiri - a traditional, nutrient-dense sweet believed to aid post-partum recovery - for her daughter in Germany, little did she know that it would leave several family members, including her daughter and her newborn, critically ill.

Kapoor, the widow of an Indian Air Force officer who runs a sanitary napkin manufacturing business and serves as a director for a firm named Global Vision Network, has alleged that one of her employees mixed thallium, a highly toxic heavy metal, into the sweet.

According to Kapoor, the employee had approached her for work in July 2021 and gradually gained her trust. She said she had even entrusted him with company-related respons...