Mumbai: In many will before the Bombay High Court, in the petition, where there is one wish, one is one and one. Recently, when a Parsi Shatabdi, who had no descendants, died, leaving behind his huge bungalow for charity in the corner of Camp, a middle -aged Parsi person claimed to be “like the deceased’s son” in front of the court, and asked a part in the property.
Hill Deadset, the last member of one of the city’s most prominent Parsi families, overtaken the will on 22 May, 2023, overtaking 3599.54 square meters bungalow in the corner of his home, Monte Roja, Kemps. 250 crores, for donation. While the testament petition demanding his executive Hoshang and Rashna Khan demanding a probate of his will was pending in the Bombay High Court, 51 -year -old resident of Ganesh Galli, Parel, Khusro Behramshaw Mogal filed a warning, stating that he was “like a son”, and his share in the bungalow. To return his claim, Mogal produced one will on 22 March, 2023, claiming that it was the latest wish of the dadset and hence he should be strong on his previous desire and his four codicils. (Kodicil is the amendments made in the latter or a part of it). However, the court realized that a simple reading of the will manufactured by Mogal “increases serious doubt”.
“Prima Feshi, the case has been chased posthumously by an unrelated party by an unrelated party, according to the order of the High Court Justice Kamal Khata on August 14. To prove the evidence of the Indian Naya Code and the Indian Penal Code to prove evidence and reduce forgery. In his order, the judge further said, “The phrase ‘My son -like’ and ‘my nearest person’ (in the will produced by Mogal), as a craftsmanship, has been employed as a craftsmanship to mislead the reader that the deceased shared a close relationship with the Cavior (Mogal).”
The lawyers who represent the executive Hoshang and Rashna Khan of Dadysett’s will also told the court, “The inquiry within the Parsi community has shown that Mogal was also involved in other criminal cases.” He told the court that his own family members had made written statements “describing him as a mischievous person, who tried to withdraw money by blackmailing individuals for personal gains”.
However, Mogal’s lawyer Shahd Ali Ansari put the allegations aside. On July 15, 2024, he said in an affidavit filed by his customer that Mogal is an educated person from a respected family and although some cases were filed against him due to family disputes, the court neither took cognizance of those cases, nor was he accused or convicted in any of them. Mogal’s affidavit states, “The previous good character is content, but, however, the evidence of the previous poor character is no clear value according to the law. In the previous cases, Ansari told HT, “The marital controversies arose. He has nothing to do with this case.” He further stated that Mogal would challenge the order of a single bench in a matter related to the will of the dadset before a division bench. He said, “Whether the will is valid or not cannot be decided at this level. It should be considered during the test.”
A fabulous family
The Dadiset family was one of the early Parsis settling in Bombay and earned a tremendous goodwill for the years for their community work through the Dadset Charity Trust.
The origin of the family can be discovered back to the grandmother Nasherwanji Dadset (1734–1799), who commissioned Dadystate Atash Behram in Fanswadi, Kalbadevi. According to a book by Marzan J Giara, it was the first fire temple of Parsi of Kadami sect in 1783 in Mumbai. In Giara’s book, ‘A Brief History of the Dadset Atsh Behram’, he wrote that Dadiset owned six ships and was an agent for commercial ships coming from Mumbai. “In addition to shipping, he earned beautifully in the construction of ginning press and screws. He also donated beautifully to charity.” 200 years ago, Dadysett donated as much as 10 lakhs of their wealth, a princely state for their time. Even today, the Dadysett Charity Trust (DCT) manages Atash Behram in Kalbadevi, Dadset Agreed and Community Medical Assistance, Educational Assistance and Poverty Abolition Charity work in Fort, the permanent trustee said Permanent Trustee Behram Araadeshir.
Hill, who died at the age of 100, was the last surviving member of the Dadyset clan. According to Ardeshir, he was married to one of the four brothers, Homi Dadiset, one of the founders of DCT, the great-granddaughter of Jamshedji Dadset. Ardeshir said, “Before his death, he gave money to the trust and asked him to pray for the Dadset family forever.”
He also nominated businessman Hoshang Jahangir Khan and his wife Rashna Khan on 18 December 2015 as executives of his will. Hoshang Khan told the Bombay High Court that he had known Hildeset for 50 years that his father and Dadiset’s husband. Dadysett added him to all his bank accounts as joint account holders, and Hoshang was nominated in all his assets and investments.
Khan’s lawyers cited 21 reasons that to show that the will Mogal had trusted and fabricated. He argued that in 2015, with his first will in eight years and his last Kodicil in 2023, it was the intention of Dadset to sell his share of the bungalow and donate income to the charity. According to him, there was no comprehensible reason for the change of mind in twenty -four days between its last codicil and mogal. He said that apart from the will built by Mogal, there was no evidence of any acquaintance between the dadset and them, nor was he mentioned in any of his will.
Hoshang (63) and Rashna Khan (60), residents of Churchgate, an interim application was filed by the last will of the dedset in the last will of December 18, 2015, requesting to instruct a magical investigation under Section 340 of the Criminal Procedure Code against Mogal. There were four codicils in the will of the dadset of December 18, 2015. The last one was dated on 27 February 2023. Mogal filed a warning in the court on the basis of an alleged wish of March 23, 2023, insisting that he was valid and legal. Mogal said that this was the last wish of Dadset and under the Indian Succession Act, only the final would be considered valid.
The mines stated that Dadset’s nephew, his brother’s son, and his only living legal successor Jeridi Doctor were nominated in his wish and received a monetary gift from him by a Kodicil in September 18, 2019. “Stranger,” was told to the court. Justice Khata’s order dated 14 August said that the nephew of Dadset had also agreed to grant the probate in favor of Khan by an affidavit on July 26, 2023.
The mines said that Mogal “front” came to light on 15 March 2024, when their petition for the probate order was listed in the High Court, claiming that he filed a warning a day before. This, he claimed, showed that the will was not present while the dadset was alive and was coined after his death. He also indicated mismatched signature, grammatical and typographic errors, which were “fully inconsistent with” the deceased’s education, literacy and expansion. “
In his order, Justice Khata directed the Prothonotary’s office to file a appropriate complaint before a judicial magistrate against Mogal: “In my view, will be trusted by the caveter (Mogal) will definitely affect the administration of justice, the cause of sufficient injury to the applicants (mines), and depriving the charity of a very valuable property.” He asked the office of Prothonotary to report the status of the complaint before the magistrate every three months and posted the case for hearing on 14 November.
A related community
While this case is talking one thing within the Parsi community of the city, many people are not surprised. HT admitted many people that there are many examples of third parties in the past who are trying to fulfill the qualities of the deceased childless Parsis. Bombay Parsi Panchayat (BPP) Trustee Virf Mehta said, “It is difficult to put a number in how many such cases, but this is definitely something that everyone is careful and we are taking appropriate steps to ensure that we can protect the qualities as much as we can.”
