The ongoing legal battle over late Bal Thackeray turned ugly on Wednesday, as Jaidev Thackeray — estranged son of late the Shiv Sena chief — washed dirty linen before the Bombay High Court by claiming that Aishwarya Thackeray, the son from his former wife Smita, was not his child.
The stunning revelations made by Jaidev — during his cross-examination by the lawyer of his brother and current Sena president Uddhav Thackeray-prompted Justice Gautam Patel to restrain Jaidev from spelling out details in the open court and adjourned for lunch break.
After the lunch break, Justice Patel briefly interacted with the lawyers of both the parties and announced that the rest of the deposition would not be open for the public and media until further orders.
In a testamentary suit filed by him challenging his father's will, Jaidev's cross examination before the Bombay High Court began on Tuesday. A peeved Jaidev cannot imagine as to how the Sena patriarch has not left any "share" for him in the latter's properties and bank deposits.
As per the purported will, late Thackeray, who had three sons Bindumadhav, Jaidev and Uddhav, has bequeathed the entire first floor of "Matoshri", where he used to live, to his grandson Aishwarya, son of Jaidev and his divorced second wife Smita.
The Sena patriarch has given the second floor of "Matoshri" to Uddhav and his two sons, Aditya and Tejas. He has bequeathed the ground and third floors to Uddhav. While Uddhav is entitled to use the entire third floor for himself, late Thackeray has asked his youngest son (Uddhav), who is also the current Sena president, to use the ground floor of "Matoshri" for holding the party's social and political meetings.
Jaidev, who moved out of "Matoshri" in the nineties after his estrangement with his second wife Smita, currently lives with his third wife Anuradha and daughter Madhuri, an offspring from his third marriage. On the second of his cross-examination being conducted by Uddhav's lawyer Rohit Kapadia, Jaidev said post 2004, he stayed on the second floor of Matoshree whenever he visited it, since the first floor was occupied by "some unknown person".
When Advocate Kapadia wanted to know as to who used to stay on the first floor of "Matoshri", Jaidev said, "The first floor was often locked up. And when it was not, some unknown person used to stay there. I did not know that person and when I asked my father, he said that somebody named Aishwarya was staying there."
When the advocate wanted to know if Aishwarya was his sonIJ, Jaidev said, "No, he is not. In fact, I have wanted to set the record on Aishwarya's paternity straight for a while now but have not got a chance".
It was at this juncture that Justice Gautam Patel restrained Jaidev from elaborating on the issue. The Judge adjourned for lunch break.
Jaidev had earlier told the court earlier that he moved out of Matoshree in 1999 following marital differences with Smita. On her part, Smita continued to live in Matoshree until their divorce in 2004. During that period, he would visit his father regularly during the day but returned to his flat at night.
“My visits to Matoshri stopped only a month before senior Thackeray passed away in November 2012," Jaidev told the court. Uddhav, the youngest son of late Thackeray and current Sena president, and four others — party leader-cum-lawyer Anil Parab, noted lawyer Adik Shirodkar, architect Shashi Prabhu and late party chief's personal assistant Ravindra Mhatre, have been named as the executors of the will, which was purportedly signed on December 13, 2011 — eleven months before the Sena patriarch's death.
The Sena patriarch had purportedly signed his will in the presence of his personal physician Dr Jalil Parkar and Bandra-based lawyer Flanian D'souza.
Ahead of the probation of the disputed will — for which Uddhav and four other executors had moved the Bombay High Court in January 2013, a property dispute rocked the Thackeray household, with the aggrieved son Jaidev taking on his younger brother Uddhav legally over the division of their late father's properties and bank deposits, which have been valued at Rs 14.85 crore in the will.
The dispute stemmed from the fact that the Sena patriarch, who passed away on November 17, 2012, did not leave has any "share" for either Jaidev or the family of his eldest son Bindumadhav, who died in a road accident in 1996.
In a 90-page affidavit filed before the High Court, Jaidev stated that the Sena patriarch — suffering as he was from "cognitive dysfunction" — might not have signed the December 13, 2011 will as was being claimed by Uddhav and four others.
Jaidev contested his late father's will on the ground that the value of properties and bank deposits was much more than Rs 14.85 crore, as cited in the petition filed in the high court seeking the probation of late Thackeray's purported will. However, Madhavi, widow of late Bindumadhav, has not contested the will.
