Document e602eb02-2428-4bbb-8c98-ac1348a64ff9

Court
Patna High Court

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
TEST CASE No.19 of 2018
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In The Goods Of Late Hari Nand Kumari Devi wife of Late Bhagwati
Charan Prasad resident of Mohalla Balbhadrapur Bengali Tola,
Laheriasarai, District- Darbhanga.
And
In the matter of an application filed under Section 276 read with 300 of
the Indian Succession Act, 1925 for grant of Letters of Administration
of registered Will dated 02.08.2003.
And
In the matter of an application filed by Manish Kumar, S/o Late Jagdish
Prasad Resident of Bengali Tola, Near Dr. Renuka Mitra Nursing
Home, Laheriasarai, Balbhadrapur, Darbhanga- 846001
... ..
. Applicant.
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CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE S. B. PD. SINGH
CAV JUDGMENT
Date : 27-08-2026
Heard learned counsel for the applicant and
perused the record.
2. This application has been filed under Section
276 read with Section 300 of the Indian Succession Act,
1925 by the applicant for grant of Letters of Administration
of the registered Will dated 02.08.2003 executed by Late
Hari Nand Kumari Devi, wife of Late Bhagwati Charan
Prasad. The registered Will has been executed in favour of
the applicant, namely Manish Kumar son of Late Jagdish
Prasad.

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3. It has been submitted on behalf of the applicant
that Late Hari Nand Kumari Devi executed the last
registered Will dated 02.08.2003 voluntarily in good
physical health and sound state of mind, after understanding
the contents of the Will, without any undue influence or
coercion of anybody, in presence of two attesting witnesses
namely, (i) Rajiv Ranjan@ Dhiraj, son of sri Baiju Nandan
Prasad, resident of Mohalla-Bengali Tola, Laheriasarai,
Mahror Colony, Darbhanga and (ii) Jayant Sinha, son of
Jagdish Chandra Sinha, resident of Mohalla-Bengali Tola,
Laheriasarai, Darbhanga. The said testatrix, Late Hari Nand
Kumari Devi, wife of Late Bhagwati Charan Prasad was a
Hindu lady governed by the Mitakshra School of Law and
was permanently residing at Mohalla-Balbhadrapur Bengali
Tola, Laheriasarai, District-Darbhanga which falls within
the territorial jurisdiction of this Court. The testatrix died
issueless on 19.08.2003 at about 2:30 P.M. in her house at
Darbhanga leaving behind five near relatives namely (i)
Mamta Sahay wife of Vibhuti Nandan Sahay, resident of
401 Shyam Kunj Apartment, Brahmsthan Road,
Sheikhpura, Patna-800014, (ii) Namita Verma wife of

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Vineet Kumar Verma, resident of Amla Toli, Buxar-802101,
(iii) Archana Srivastava wife of Sanjay Kumar Srivastava,
resident of Rampur Mahawal, Mansha Baba, Khori Pakar,
Ballia, Uttar Pradesh-277001, (iv) Swati Srivastava wife of
Praveer Shrivastava, resident of Jagdishpur, Ballia City,
Ballia, Uttar Pradesh-277001 and (V) Shalini wife of Jyoti
Shankar, resident of Civil Lines, Ward no. 18, East of Civil
Lines Club, Buxar-802101. It has further been submitted
that the Will dated 02.08.2003 is the last Will of the
testatrix, which was duly executed before the Registering
Authority, Darbhanga on 02.08.2003.
4. The property covered under the Will as
mentioned in Schedule-1 was property of the testatrix and
on that authority, she bequeathed the property of her own
through registered Will in favour of the applicant . The
testatrix was the grandmother of the applicant namely
Manish Kumar and he is named as sole beneficiary/legatee
of the registered Will dated 02.08.2003. The amount of
assets which are likely to come in the hands of the applicant
is approximately Rs. 1,25,00,000/- (One Crore & Twenty
Five lakhs), which is mentioned in Schedule-1 of the plaint.

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5. This Court vide order dated 28-11-2022 directed
the learned counsel for the applicant to take steps for
publication of general citation in two local daily
newspapers, namely, Hindustan (in Hindi) and Times of
India (in English). Thereafter, affidavit filed on behalf of the
applicant in support of publication of general citation in
Hindustan (in Hindi) dated- 27-12-2022 and Times of India
(in English), dated- 27-12-2022, was accepted and kept on
record. The requirement of taking steps for special citation
upon the Near Relatives was dispensed with in view of the
fact that all five Near Relatives have appeared and have
filed their Vakalatnama suo motu . Moreover, none of the
appeared near relatives choose to file any caveat or
objection regarding grant of Letters of Administration in
favour of the applicant and also none of them cross
examined the witnesses produced on behalf of the applicant.
6. In support of the case, three witnesses viz.
Jayant Sinha (A.W.-1) was examined on 01.05.2025,
Manish Kumar (A.W.-2) and Mamta Sahay (A.W.-3) were
examined on 24.07.2025. These witnesses were examined
and discharged without cross-examination because nobody

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appeared in the case to contest the Testamentary Case.
7. Attesting Witness no.- 1 Jayant Sinha has been
examined on 01.05.2025. He has stated in his evidence that
the contents of examination-in-chief filed by him on
affidavit are true and correct. This witness, in his
examination-in-chief, stated that he knew the testatrix and
the applicant is her grandson. He further states that the
testatrix was in sound state of health and mind when the
said Will and Testament was executed fully understanding
the contents thereof without any undue influence or
coercion. The Will was drafted by the scribe namely Ranjit
Kumar Sinha, who was also present at that time of
execution of the Will along with him and the attesting
witnesses Rajiv Ranjan @ Dhiraj, the applicant Manish
Kumar and the testatrix Hari Nand Kumari Devi put her
signature, so far as he remembers. The witness (A.W. 1)
identifies the Will and states that it is the same Will on
which he put his signature and the witness also identifies his
signature on the Will. The Will is marked as Exhibit-1 and
the signature of the attesting witness namely Jayant Sinha is
marked as Exhibit-2.

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8. A.W. 2 Manish Kumar, has been examined on
24.07.2025. The applicant has stated in his evidence that the
contents of examination-in-chief filed by him on affidavit
are true and correct. The applicant in his examination-in-
chief stated that the testatrix was his grandmother, who died
on 19.08.2003 at Darbhanga. He further states that he is the
sole legatee of the Will of his grandmother which was
executed on 02.08.2003. The attesting witnesses of the Will
are Rajiv Ranjan @ Dhiraj and Jayant Sinha. The Will was
handwritten and it was scribed by one Ranjit Kumar Sinha.
He also states that at the time of death, the testatrix was
aged about 70 years and she was physically and mentally
sound at the time of execution of the Will. This witness
states that the contents of the Will were dictated by his
grandmother to the scribe and the Will was got registered by
the testatrix but he did not accompany her to the office of
the Registrar. On seeing the original Will, this witness has
identified the Will as well as signatures of the testatrix on
each page of the Will. He also identified the signatures of
the attesting witnesses of the Will namely Rajiv Ranjan @
Dhiraj and Jayant Sinha. On identification by this witness,

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the signatures of the testatrix on each page of the Will are
marked as Exhibit-3, 3/1, 3/2 and 3/3 respectively. The
signature of another attesting witness namely Rajiv Ranjan
@ Dhiraj is marked as Exhibit-4.
9. A.W. 3 Mamta Sahay, has been examined on
24.07.2025. She has stated in her evidence that the contents
of examination-in-chief filed by her on affidavit are true and
correct. The witness in her evidence stated that the testatrix
was not her own grandmother but she was the wife of
brother of her grandfather. Testatrix executed the Will in the
name of her brother, Manish Kumar. The witness further
states that the Will was prepared on 02.08.2003 and the
testatrix of the Will, Hari Nand Kumari Devi died on
19.08.2003 at Darbhanga due to heart failure. The testatrix
was in good mental and physical condition at the time of
execution of the Will. The witness further states that though
she is one of the near relatives of the testatrix but she has
given no objection to grant Letters of Administration of the
Will in favour of the applicant. This witness identified the
Will as well as signatures of the testatrix on each page of
the Will. She also identified the signatures of the attesting

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witnesses of the Will namely Rajiv Ranjan @ Dhiraj and
Jayant Sinha.
10. Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the
applicant submits that none has come to make any objection
with respect to grant of Letters of Administration of this
registered Will dated 02.08.2003. In the present case, the
Will and its execution has been proved according to
provisions of Indian Evidence Act, by both the attesting
witnesses. It has also been argued that the Will is a
registered Will of the testatrix as she herself appeared
before the Registering Authority and admitted the execution
of the Will. There is no scope of any suspicion about
genuineness of the said Will nor anybody has challenged
the genuineness of Will in question before this Court.
11. In view of the aforesaid facts and
circumstances, both the attesting witnesses have duly
proved the Will before this Court. All witnesses have
categorically stated that at the time of execution of Will,
Late Hari Nand Kumari Devi, was in a good physical health
and sound state of mind and she voluntarily appeared before
the Registry Office, Darbhanga and completed all the

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formalities and her signature has been identified by the
witnesses.
12. On analysis of the evidence(s) which have
been deposed by the witnesses, it is abundantly clear that
late Hari Nand Kumari Devi, in well state of conscious
mind, without any coercion and undue pressure, fully
understanding the contents of the Will, had put her signature
on each and every page of the Will and on her request both
of the attesting witnesses put their respective signatures on
the Will which has been proved by the witnesses as
discussed herein-above. Hence, this Court is of considered
view that the testatrix, late Hari Nand Kumari Devi,
executed the Will in favour of applicant, Manish Kumar,
who is the sole legatee/beneficiary of the Will, in a proper
state of mind with proper understanding of the contents of
the Will.
13. Accordingly, this application is allowed.
14. Let the Letters of Administration of the Will
dated 02.08.2003 executed by the Testatrix namely Hari
Nand Kumari Devi, be issued in favour of applicant of this
case with a copy of the Will annexed thereof, which shall

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have effect throughout the territory of India.


(S. B. Pd. Singh, J)
Shageer/-
AFR/NAFR NAFR
CAV DATE 13/08/2026
Uploading Date 02/09/2026
Transmission Date N/A