Sridevi property dispute

Bollywood producer Boney Kapoor has approached the Madras High Court in the wake of a dispute over a property in the name of his wife, the late actress Sridevi. He told the court that although the property on Chennai's East Coast Road belonged to them, three people had illegally occupied it and forged documents claiming to have acquired inheritance rights.

On April 19, 1988, Sridevi and M.C. Sambandha Mudaliar bought the property from the family of a man named Mudaliar. Boney Kapoor argued that the registration was done with the consent of Mudaliar's sons and daughters at that time and that all the documents were legal. He also brought to the court's attention that his wife had bought the property with great difficulty.

Recently, three people have come forward claiming to be the children of Mudaliar's second wife. They also claimed to have a share in the property and obtained a certificate of inheritance from the Tambaram Tahsildar's office in 2005. Boney Kapoor said that they tried to show their rights to the land based on this document.

However, although the three argue that Mudaliar's second marriage took place in 1975, his first wife died in 1999. This means that since the second marriage took place while the first wife was alive, the marriage was not legal and the children of the second wife are not considered legal heirs under the Hindu Succession Act, Boney Kapoor clarified.

Justice N. Anand Venkatesh, who heard the case, ordered that the succession certificate issued by the Tambaram Tahsildar be examined and a final decision be taken within four weeks. The court clarified that the issue of whether the Tambaram Tahsildar had the authority to issue this certificate should also be examined.