NAVAL RAGHUNATH ADSUL Vs. DEEPAK RAGHUNATH ADSUL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The testamentary suit seeks letters of administration with the will annexed to the property and credits of deceased Raghunath Maruti Adsul, who died in Mumbai on 26 December 1992.

(2.) The deceased was a Hindu. He was residing in Mumbai at the time of his death. According to the Plaintiff, the deceased had made his last will and testament at Mumbai on 8 January 1991; the will was registered with the Sub-Registrar of Assurances under Registration No.P/64/91 of Book No.III, 142 to 144. The Plaintiff is a son of the deceased and claims to be the sole beneficiary under the will, which does not name any executor. The assets of the deceased disclosed in the plaint include a plot of land along with a house standing thereon at Khar in Mumbai and monies in bank and household goods. The deceased was survived by two sons, one of them being the Plaintiff and the other Defendant No.1, and three daughters, one of them being Defendant No.2, and three grand daughters (daughters of the deceased's pre-deceased daughter). Defendant No.2 has been deleted from the cause title after her death. Defendant Nos.3(a) to 3(d), who are her heirs, have been added as parties to the suit.

(3.) The Defendants contest the will claiming it to be forged, bogus and fabricated. The Defendants dispute the signature of the deceased on the will and also submit that, even assuming that the signature belonged to him, the deceased was not aware of the contents of the will and did not understand their implication. The Defendants also question the mental capacity or disposing state of mind of the deceased to comprehend such implication. According to them, at the time of making of the purported will, the deceased had suffered a paralytic stroke; he had lost his memory and was not physically and mentally fit to execute the will. Defendant No.2 also claims that their deceased father Raghunath had, during his lifetime, made a family arrangement/partition, allotting the ground floor to Defendant No.1 and the first floor to the Plaintiff.