CHHIDDU Vs. DESRAJ

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This was a suit for redemption, the appellant being the plaintiff. The principal defendant in the suit was one Desraj who was alleged to be the mortgagee.

(2.) According to the particulars set out in paragraph 2 of the plaint a mortgage was executed on the 3 of June 1890 by one Atbal Singh, father of the plaintiff. The mortgage was in favour of the first defendant, Desraj, the mortgage money was Rs. 2,100, and the mortgage was with possession.

(3.) The principal defence which was set up in the suit and which was accepted by the learned Judge in the Court below was that the deed upon which the plaintiff claimed a right of redemption, although it had been duly executed and registered, yet did not operate as a mortgage at all, inasmuch as the transaction was entirely fictitious. It was pleaded that this mortgage had been executed by Atbal Singh in favour of Desraj merely in order to defeat the claim for pre-emption which had been brought in respect of the property by one Gopal. It seems that on the very day on which Gopal filed his suit for preemption against one Kamta who was the first purchaser, Kamta sold the property to Atbal Singh, and three or four days alter Atbal Singh executed the mortgage upon which the present suit is based.