1. The defendants in O.S. No. 314 of 1990 on the file of the Sub-Court, Cuddalore are the appellants in the above appeal.

2. For the sake of convenience, the parties are referred to as per their ranking in the suit.

3. The brief facts of the case are as follows:

The plaintiff considering his relationship and friendship gave a sum of Rs.10,000 on 8.6.1988 and another sum of Rs.10,000 on 25.6.1988 to the defendants for the marriage of their son. The plaintiff did not get any receipt or promissory note from the defendants. Again on 10.5.1989, the first defendant received a sum of Rs.4,000 from the plaintiff by a cheque for his family expenses. The plaintiff is maintaining accounts regularly for the past fifteen years. The payments made to the defendants are entered into his accounts books. The payments made by the defendants are known to Mr. Desikan, a known friend of the plaintiff and the defendants. inspite of repeated demands, the defendants failed to pay the amount, hence the suit.

4. The first defendant filed a written statement which was adopted by the second defendant which reads as follows:

The defendants are not related to the plaintiff. It is absolutely false to