NAINAR SUNDARAM, J.

1. The second defendant in O.S. No. 294 of 1984 on the file of the Principal Subordinate Judge, Madurai, is the appellant in this Letters Patent Appeal. The first respondent herein is the first defendant; the second respondent herein is the plaintiff and respondents 3 to 5 herein are defendants 3 to 5 in the suit. We propose to refer to the parties as per their nomenclature in the suit. The plaintiff laid the suit for a declaration of title and for delivery of possession. The case of the plaintiff is that the suit property was the self-acquired property of his father and after the demise of his father, he and his sisters, defendants 3 to 5 are entitled to the same as his legal heirs; and the first defendant, though a natural brother of the plaintiff, was given away in adoption and he his no right over the suit property. The first defendant resisted the suit contending that the suit property was purchased by his adoptive father in the name of his natural father benami for the adoptive father and the first defendant and his adoptive father lived in the suit property until the demise of the adoptive father, and thereafter the first defendant continued to