Sudip Biswas, 31, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday for poisoning wife Sharmistha, 26, to death. The verdict was delivered by Asim Kumar Mondal, the seventh additional district and sessions’ judge of Alipore court.

“Biswas, a surgeon at a Birbhum hospital, killed his wife after she refused to bring in money from her parents to help him set up a nursing home,” the judge said.

The prosecution stated that Biswas, a resident of Bangur Avenue, married Sharmistha, a resident of Thakurpukur, in December 2002.

“Soon after marriage, Sudip started demanding money from his in-laws for setting up a nursing home in the city. He tortured his wife as she failed to meet his demand. Unable to bear the torture, Sharmistha moved out and started living with her parents,” the lawyer representing Sharmistha’s parents said.

On May 11, 2003, Sudip went to his in-laws’ house to meet his wife.

“The couple were talking inside a room. The conversation soon turned into a quarrel, at the end of which Sudip stormed out, rushed to the bathroom and tossed out a syringe through the window,” the lawyer added.

Sharmistha died soon after. The syringe was recovered. Two city doctors examined the content and found it to be poison. The judge held that the surgeon had injected the poison into Sharmistha.

The syringe was produced in the court during the trial. Forensic experts confirmed that traces Sharmistha’s blood were found on the syringe.