The Bombay High Court rejected a testamentary suit spanning two decades concerning the inheritance of Bipin Gupta, the uncle of actor Pooja Bedi. Bedi and her aunts successfully demonstrated that the contested 'Will,' which allocated all assets to a trust, was deemed invalid as it was proven to be deceitful and counterfeit.
Justice Milind rejected a petition submitted by Vasant Sardal, who aimed to carry out the purported Will of Gupta dated September 4, 2003. Sardal, one of the Will's two executors and a co-trustee of the entity set to benefit from the Will, had his petition dismissed.
Nevertheless, the property is set to be divided among Gupta's lawful heirs: his two sisters, Ashita Tham and Monica Uberoi, along with his niece, Bedi, acting on behalf of her mother. The estate encompasses various assets, including tenancy rights to a flat in the Firdaus Building, a remarkable Art Deco structure, ownership of a flat in the Neel Tarang building in Mahim, a sizable two-acre plot in Panchgani, assorted bank balances, investments in shares and bonds, and valuable possessions held by Gupta.
As per the petition, Gupta purportedly made the Will on June 20, 2003, during his medical care at Bombay Hospital while grappling with renal failure. Sadly, Gupta passed away later on September 4, 2003. The Will listed Behram Ardeshir and Vasant Sardal as executors, with Sardal's son, Anil, a serving police officer at the time, and advocate Santosh Raje, signing as witnesses.
In 2018, the court ousted Sardal from his position as co-executor of the Will. Following this, Ardeshir decided to relinquish his role as an executor, citing that Sardal and his son, Anil, exhibited a blatant intent to seize control of the deceased's estate.
Despite the provisions outlined in the Will, which directed the executors to establish a trust in the name of Gupta's wife, Pushpa Gupta, wherein all properties were to be placed, granting the trustees complete control, Sardal, who was also a beneficiary, filed for probate of the Will.
The court refused to accept the genuineness of the Will.
The bench highlighted four crucial elements constituting a valid Will. Firstly, the testator voluntarily signed the Will without coercion, demonstrating autonomy. Secondly, the testator was mentally competent at the time of signing, possessing a clear understanding of their actions. Thirdly, the testator was aware of the content of the Will and its implications. Lastly, the Will was executed without any hint of dubious or suspicious circumstances surrounding its creation.
The court determined that the testator's attending doctor neither served as an attesting witness nor provided testimony regarding the testator's mental competence. Notably, the bequest to a charity managed by entirely unfamiliar individuals raised suspicion, leading the court to comment on the obscurity of the situation.
Additionally, the court expressed skepticism about how the typed Will found its way to the hospital where Gupta was receiving treatment. Moreover, the allocations and provisions within the Will were deemed "unnatural and unclear" by the court, further intensifying doubts surrounding its legitimacy.
The court highlighted that the other witness attesting to the Will mentioned that Anil had approached him to act as a witness, asserting that Gupta intended to allocate all his possessions to charity. This revelation indicated that Anil was already familiar with the contents of the Will before it arrived at the hospital, suggesting prior awareness of its provisions.
Court was of the view that the Will appeared disjunctive as, despite half of page 2 being blank, the Will was only executed on page 3. Moreover, the court deemed it unnatural for Gupta to have omitted his sisters from the Will, considering this exclusion as an irregularity. Consequently, the High Court instructed the police to transfer all movable assets to Bedi and her aunts after obtaining appropriate assurances from them.
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