NAVEEN CHANDER KAPUR Vs. STATE & ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The applicants (respondent nos. 3 to 5) have filed the present application seeking amendment of the objections filed to oppose the above captioned petition. The petitioner has filed the above captioned petition seeking probate in respect of the Will of late Smt. Ved Vati Kapur (the testator). The testator expired on 24.12.2002 and it is claimed that her Will dated 03.10.1996 (hereafter 'the Will') was the last will and testament of the testator. The petitioner states that in terms of the Will, the testator had inter alia bequeathed the property bearing no. 3, Nizamuddin East, New Delhi to her sons: the ground floor of the said property was bequeathed to Sh. Satish Chander Kapur (since deceased), the first floor was bequeathed to Sh. Subhash Chander Kapur (since deceased) and the second floor was bequeathed to Sh. Naveen Chander Kapur.

(2.) The applicants are the heirs (wife, son and daughter) of late Sh. Satish Chander Kapur. The applicants (arrayed as respondent nos. 3 to 5 in the above captioned petition) filed their objections to the petition and challenged the genuineness and validity of the Will. They allege that the Will "is a false, fabricated and created document". Further, it is also their case that the property in question, namely, bungalow bearing no. 3, Nizamuddin East, New Delhi was allotted to Sh. K.N. Kapur, the pre- deceased husband of the testator, in lieu of family property left by him in Pakistan at the time of partition. It is further claimed that Sh. K.N. Kapur had partitioned the aforementioned property during his lifetime amongst his three sons with the testator having only a life interest in the said property.

(3.) The applicants (objectors) now claim that while going through the objections filed by them, they realised that besides the objections already stated in the pleadings, there were other objections, which would have a material bearing on the grant of probate. They now seek to amend their objections by inter alia pleading that the testator was not in a sound physical and mental condition to execute the Will. They state that the testator was suffering from short-term amnesia and was not in a proper frame of mind at the material time due to severe mental agony and shock on account of demise of her husband. And, in addition, she was also suffering from various other ailments. The applicants further claim that there was no occasion for the testator to execute the Will within a year of the demise of her husband who had also executed a Will on 12.07.1995. It is further claimed that the testator during her lifetime did not claim or assert any ownership rights in respect of the property in question. The applicants pleaded that the Will was brought into existence at the instance and under the influence of the petitioner and the same is self-created and forged.