The main legal principle established is that a will made under undue influence, false statements, and unfounded allegations that affect the testator's free agency is void under Section 61 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925.

Kumaraswami Sastri, J.

1. This suit arises out of an application for probate of a will alleged to have been left by one Ramakrishna Naidu who died on the 31st of January, 1925. The petitionor is the father of the testator and claims to be executor under the will. The defendant is the widow of Ramakrishna Naidu and she opposes the grant. She states that she was not aware that her husband left any will, that her husband was at the time of the alleged execution of the will an inpatient in the Surgical Ward in the General Hospital, that the will even if executed is invalid and inoperative, that the petitioner for probate and his wife were always inimical towards her and her children, that they exercised undue influence over her husband, that she and her husband were living a happy married life and that it is extremely unlikely that her husband would have voluntarily deprived her of the guardianship and custody of her five minor children and cut her off with a maintenance of Rs. 7 a month.

2. The following issues were settled:

1. Was the document expounded executed By the deceased and duly attested?

2. Was the deceased in a sound disposing state of mind at the time of the alleged execution of the document?

3. To what relief, if any, is the plaintiff entitled?

3. I think a further issue arises as to whether the will was brought about by the exercise of fraud or undue influence.

4. Ramakrishna Naidu, the husband of the defendant, was employed in the Government of India as a Stenographer. For some months before his death he was suffering from the distressing complaint of spinal tuberculosis or spinal caires which prevented his getting out of bed. In fact for some months before his death he was unable to sit up and was always lying on his bed. We find from the letters which have been filed as Ex. I series that he was suffering from very great pain and that even as early as the 26th of March, the pain was so great that he swooned and fell down while attempting to go to a shop in Allahabad. In a letter dated the 24th of February, 1924 he writes to his wife about his health as follows:

For the last three months I have been feeling great pain in my chest and stomach and I am not able to freely bend or lie down. Medicines have no effect. My right leg is also paining. By the time I finish this letter the pain on my back has become insufferable and I dare say that you will not be able to recognise me if you see me now. What shall I do? If I think of taking leave I am oppressed with the thought of having to look after five stomachs excluding myself, which is seen going to become six including the one in your womb. Am I at least free after providing for maintenance? I have to equally provide you all with good clothes and ornaments. I am at a loss to know the divine dispensation. Sweet embraces and kisses to my children and the same to you.

5. In the letter of the 6th March, 1924 he says:

You had enquired what I was ailing from? I have pain all over the body....

6. In the letter of the 15th of March, he writes:

My pain is still like before. Now my knees also are paining much. I am unable to walk. The back aches, its severity is fully known to me alone who suffers. With all this pain I am attending office work, biting the teeth.

7. On the 26th of March, he writes:

Some days back I had gone to the fruit bazaar in Allahabad in the accompaniment ,of two Punjabi friends. All at once I felt weak and unconscious and fell down in the ground feeling only a hard blow on my head. On my regaining senses I was told by my friends that I was dawn for a pretty long time, in spite of their best efforts to help me. If I had died then, or if I was run over by any passing carriage I would have been relieved of these worldly miseries. I have survived this crisis, probably only to be teased by all the people who have made it a point to do so.

8. The diary kept by the deceased has been filed as Ex. C and we find entries therein which show that he was suffering very much. On