Court restrains family from parting with property after son from first wife challenges will.
The will of Bharat Ratna late Pandit Bhimsen Joshi has landed in a controversy after the son of his first wife moved a special civil suit before joint civil judge SR Yadav claiming the language used in the will is unnatural and that the will is a forged one. Joshi’s son Raghavendra from his first wife had moved a petition through his lawyer Sanjay Natu in 2012 against his stepbrothers Jayant, Shriniwas and five other members in 2012.
Hearing the plaint, the judge restrained the defendants by way of ad-interim injunction from alienation of suit property mentioned by Raghavendra in his plaint adding that there will be no third party interest and the properties shall not be parted till final disposal of suit.
Raghavendra’s plaint prayed for restraining defendants i.e. his stepbrothers and their wives from alienation or creating third party interest, parting possession of the four properties naming Kalashree bungalow at Sadashiv Peth, two flats in Erandwane and using the royalty amount received from list of 18 music companies that is payable to late Bhimsen Joshi.
Raghavendra told dna, “The fabricated will comprises eight pages. The will was made in 2008 when Pandit Bhimsen was 86 years old and of unsound mind and bed-ridden. Also the language used in the will is unnatural and not desirable to the simple living attitude of Bhimsen, which means he didn’t speak in such language.”
His plaint alleges that the will was executed on September 22, 2008 but was submitted for registration before sub-registrar Haveli on Nov 25, 2008. During the execution of will, Pandit Bhimsen was not in sound and disposing state of mind, according to the plaint.
Meanwhile, his other son Jayant said the allegations are fabricated and tactics to defame their image in society. “We are falsely implicated in the case and will appeal to the high court in this regard,” said Jayant. Raghavendra is son of Joshi’s first wife, Sunanda Katti while in 1951, the music maestro married his disciple Vatsala. “My father, though remarried, maintained good relationship with us. On January 24, 2011, my father died and on March 28, 2011, Jayant who is my stepbrother called us at Kalashree bungalow for reading of the last will of my father. After going through the will, my other siblings were shocked and surprised by the language used. There was was no mental and physical health certificate attached to the will.”
Judge Yadav observed, “The defendant themselves have given the events of Pandit Bhimsen illness and hospitalisation. The will is registered two months after the date of execution and that too by calling sub-registrar to their home. In order to ascertain the fact of mental and physical health of late Pandit Bhimsen Joshi at the time of execution of will, it is necessary to go for expert medical evidence and it can be availed only at the time of final hearing of the suit.”
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