Thackeray brothers' property dispute reaches court

A dispute between brothers over multi-crore property in the once-monolithic empire of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray has reached the court, with the matter expected to come up for hearing on Monday.

Earlier this month, Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray had moved the Bombay High Court to get the will of his father, who died on November 17, 2012, legally validated by the court.

The probate petition moved, however, got converted into a testamentary suit as Uddhav's brother Jaidev moved an application opposing it and challenging the veracity of the will.

Estranged son Jaidev has not found himself mentioned among those to whom Thackeray's property is to be distributed.  Jaidev's key opposition to the will is that even though he and his father did not share a cordial relationship, Bal Thackeray could not have made such a will expressing anger towards his son just because the two disagreed over issues.

Jaidev in his application stated that his father, a lifelong advocate of the Marathi language, would never have made a will in English, and moreover that the property value declared in the “so-called will” was below existing rates.

The properties mentioned in the will signed by Bal Thackeray consists of immovable assets and bank deposits valued at Rs 14.85 crore, while the family bungalow Matoshree, located adjacent to Western Express Highway in Bandra, has a market price of around Rs 40 crore.

Apart from Jaidev, who stays separately with his third wife, other members of the family, like the widow of Bal Thackeray's eldest son Bindumadhav, who died in a road accident some years ago, has also not been mentioned.

The party chief in his will had named former Parliamentarian and senior advocate Adhik Shirodkar, lawyer Anil Parab, architect Shashi Prabhu and Ravindra Mhatre, former personal assistant to the late Sena supremo, as executors of the will.

Repeated attempts to contact advocate Shirodkar failed to elicit any response.