IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI Misc. Appeal No.523 of 2018 ------

1. Ravi Shankar Upadhaya

2. Dr. Dinesh Upadhaya Both sons of Late Hari Shankar Upadhaya

3. Raghavendra Upadhaya

4. Vinayak Upadhaya

5. Aditya Upadhaya Sl. Nos.3 to 5 are sons of Ravi Shankar Upadhaya

6. Goutam Upadhaya, son of Dr. Dinesh Upadhaya All resident of Holding No.27, C.H. Area (East), P.O. & P.S. Bistupur, Town Jamshedpur, District East Singhbhum .... .... …. Appellants Versus

1(A) Vatsala Shukla, daughter of Late Kusum Shukla, resident of A- 25 I.F.S.

Apartment, Mayur Vihar, Phase- I, P.O. and P.S. Patparganj, District East Delhi

1(B) Vanita Shukla Hork, daughter of Late Kusum Shukla, resident of Bulowsvej 26, I Floor, 1870, Frederiksberg C, Copenhagen Denmark .... .... .... Respondent CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE GAUTAM KUMAR CHOUDHARY For the Appellants : Mr. Amit Kumar Das, Advocate Ms. Swati Shalini, Advocate Mr. Vineet Sinha, Advocate Ms. K. Deo, Advocate For the Respondents : Mr. Subhashish Rasik Soren, Advocate Ms. Shobha Gloria Lakra, Advocate Mr. Mrinalini Adela Tete, Advocate Mr. Elwin Nishant Tirkey, Advocate Mr. Preeti Hembrom, Advocate Mr. Singi Sharon Demta, Advocate ------

Order No.11 / Dated : 10.12.2025 The appellants are aggrieved by the judgment dated 19.07.2018 passed by learned District Judge-V, Jamshedpur, in Title Suit No.4/2013, whereby and whereunder their petition for grant of probate of the WILL has been dismissed by the learned Probate Court.

2. Appellant Nos.1 and 2 are the sons of the testator and appellant nos.3 to 6 are the grandsons of Testator Kristo Rani Upadhya @ Girija Upadhyay, whereas the sole respondent- Kusum Shukla (deceased) is her daughter.

3. As per the case of the appellants, the registered WILL was executed on 04.05.2010 and the Testator, Kristo Rani Upadhyay @ Girija Upadhyay died on 31.07.2010. Thereafter, the probate application was filed on 06.01.2011. The WILL is with respect to five schedule properties in which the respective portion of the house has been bequeathed in favour of the beneficiaries.

4. A piece of land measuring 160 feet x 101 feet, approximately area 16160 Sq. ft. was leased by M/s TISCO by registered deed, no.8866 dated 22.09.1970 to her husband, Mr. Hari Shankar Upadhyay and to her two sons namely Ravi Shankar Upadhyay @ Ganesh Upadhyay and Dr. Dinesh Upadhyay in the year 1995. Hari Shankar Upadhyay gifted his entire share of land and super structure of holding no.27, C.H. area to his wife through registered gifted no.2573 dated 10.04.1985. The land was accordingly mutated in the name of the testator and her two sons, namely Ravi Shankar Upadhyay and Dr. Dinesh Upadhyay. Testator owned half of the lease land and approximately 8080 Sq. ft. and super structure.

5. The Testator executed WILL on 04.05.2010 in presence of two attesting witnesses, namely Tapo Gopal Mukherjee and Manjeswar Narendra Bhatt. The WILL was duty registered in the registry office on

04.05.2010, which was numbered as 4137.

6. Probate application was contested by the only married daughter of the Testator, Kusum Shukla on the ground that the WILL was forged and fabricated. The signature appearing on each of the page of the WILL was completely at variance with one of the another.

7. Altogether four witnesses were examined on behalf of the plaintiffs/appellants and the documents were adduced and marked as Exhibit 1 to Exhibit 4. During trial, WILL has been proved as Exhibit 3 and signature of the attesting witness- P.W.3 (Manjeshwar Narendra Bhat) has been proved and marked as Exhibit 2. The WILL was prepared by one Jaidrath Goswami, Advocate (P.W.4). The objector- Kusum Shukla examined herself as D.W.1.

8. Learned Probate Court dismissed the probate application, inter-alia, on the ground that the attesting witness (P.W.3) has specifically stated in Para 8 of his cross-examination that he did not read-over the contents of last Para of Page 10 of the WILL to the Testator. As per his examination-in-chief, the testator had hersel