Anticipatory bail denied due to suspicions of fraudulent will under criminal scrutiny despite civil claims.

1. Heard Mr. Rajendra Deshmukh, Senior Counsel a/w. Ms. Meenal S. Deshmukh and Ms. Vikhyati Jain i/b. Mrs. Ashwini A. Lomte for all the applicants, Mr. A.A.A. Khan, leaned APP for State / respondent Nos. 1 and 2 and Mr. V.P. Bakal, the learned Advocate assisting APP.

2. The applicants in above applications are apprehending arrest in connection with Crime No. 301/2023 dated 18.12.2023 registered with Jawahar Nagar Police Station, Aurangabad for the offences punishable under S.379, S.467, S.468, S.471, S.406 r/w. 34 of IPC.

3. Informant - Aruna Mahendra Kala is the wife of deceased - Mahendra Madanlal Kala. The husband of informant died on 1.11.2019 due to cardiac arrest at Thane, Maharashtra. The husband of the deceased is survived by three daughters, who are married. The deceased was the electrical contractor and doing business by name Kastum Engineer at Aurangabad.

4. The F.I.R. is registered by wife of deceased Smt. Aruna Kala on 18.12.2023. In the F.I.R. she has stated that her deceased husband had three brothers namely Narendra Madanlal Kala (applicant in ABA No. 394/2024), Vijay Madanlal Kala (applicant in ABA No. 393/2024) and Rajendra Madanlal Kala, who died on 1.2.2023. It is stated that the brothers of the deceased had no knowledge about the business of the deceased although they used to help the informant as and when required. It is stated that although Vijay Madanlal Kala has no knowledge of the business of her husband, being brother of the deceased, the informant had kept the keys of the office with him wherein all the business papers including the blank signed cheques and blank letterhead of the Kustum Engineers were kept. Mr. Abdul Rag, close friend of the deceased had completed all the pending works after his death. After the demise of husband, the informant along with her three daughters had applied for inheritance certificate on 6.1.2020 in Court and the inheritance certificate granted by the Court on 18.2.2020 and the same was received by applicant Vijay Madanlal Kala. However, he refused to give the same to the informant.

5. Later the informant fell unwell and as such, she was with her daughters at Hyderabad. While she was in Hyderabad under treatment, there was some theft in the house of informant at Aurangabad and some important documents have been stolen from her house.

6. In the F.I.R., it is further stated that informant and her three daughters had applied for succession certificate on 17.10.2020 being MARJI No. 909/2020. After three months Vijay Kala and his son Aditya Vijay Kala (applicants in ABA No. 394/2024) had filed objection to the grant of succession certificate to the informant and her daughters. In the said objection, the applicants produced two documents, one is a oral partition recorded on 19.10.2020 on stamp of Rs.100/- and a Will prepared on the letter head of Kaustum Engineers dated 17.10.2019. The will was registered on 19.11.2020 after 11 months of the demise of the husband of the informant with the aid of attesting witnesses Mr. Jitendra Madanlal Chabbda (applicant in ABA No. 393/2024), Mr. Sachin Subhash Agrawal and Gajanan Narayan Sangwar (applicants in ABA No. 395/2024). In the F.I.R. it is alleged that the oral partition which is allegedly transcribed on stamp paper on which signatures are obtained is fraudulent and are fake. As such, the informant has taken opinion of hand writing expert wherein it is stated that the signatures of the deceased husband of the informant are different on the partition deed than that appearing on the other documents. It is also stated that when asked Mr. Mangesh Shamrao Kale, who was working as a driver in the office of the husban