14 wives claim dead farmer's property

Revenue officials in UP’s Bareilly district got the shock of their lives when they were confronted by several women claiming to be the legal heir of a farmer who died a few days ago.

According to sources, the farmer, Bhagwan Das, had left behind property worth several lakhs of rupees. The officials have asked all the claimants to approach the court so that the matter could be resolved.

The matter came to light when one Ramkali Devi, a resident of Pipalsana village in the district, approached the revenue officials to get her name entered into the revenue records as the legal heir of Bhagwan Das. Ramkali claimed that she was wife of Das. As the revenue clerk concerned delayed disposal of Ramkali's application, the latter lodged a complaint against him with senior officials. An inquiry was ordered into the matter.

It turned out during the inquiry that Bhagwan Das had several wives. ''So far, we have information about 14 wives... it is not clear if there are more,'' said an official of the district revenue department in Bareilly. It was also revealed that so far five of the wives had staked claim for Bhagwan Das's property. All of them claim that they are legal heirs of Das. ''If the other wives are living they may also come forward to stake their claim over the property in the days to come,'' the official said. The official said that the revenue department could do very little in the matter. ''The matter can only be resolved by the court... we will wait for the court judgment before entering the name of the legal heir,'' he added. Das, according to the reports, had two houses and around 25 acres of agricultural land. The properties were worth several lakhs.