Mysuru: Belawadi Gram Panchayat former President Belavadi Shivamurthy has been booked by the Vijayanagar Police on charges of grabbing landed properties by forging the signature of his late son.

Following a complaint by Shivamurthy’s daughter-in-Law K.S.Sneha, the Vijayanagar Police have registered an FIR against five persons — Belavadi Shivamurthy, his daughters Padmini and Kavitha, his relative Ravikiran (now late) and Advocate H.S. Kumar, under BNS sections 120b, 420, 465, 468, 471 and 34.

Details: Sneha in her complaint said that her husband  B.S.Prateep, the son of Shivamurthy, died by suicide on Dec. 24,2021. When he was alive, Prateep had got properties from his father through a family property division, the gift deed of which was registered on Oct. 30, 2019. Prateep, who was a Real Estate dealer, owned a Petrol bunk and enjoyed  all the properties that he got by inheritance.

But after the death of his son Prateep, Shivamurthy, allegedly created a fake document which mentioned  that her husband (Prateep) had written a Will transferring back as many as 39 properties, worth crores of rupees, including the five in Chitradurga to his (Prateep) father Shivamurthy on Dec. 20, 2021, just 4 days before her husband Prateep ended his life. The created document, which had forged signatures of her husband Prateep, also had the signatures of Shivamurthy’s daughters Kavitha and Padmini and their relative Ravikiran as witnesses. Advocate H.S. Kumar had proclaimed himself to have executed the document. This fake Will was created with a clear objective of cheating her and her children (two daughters), the complainant Sneha said.

By using this  created fake Will, Shivamurthy (Prateep’s father and the complainant Sneha’s father-in-law) got all the properties registered in his name at the Mysuru North Sub-Registrar’s office on Apr.7,2022. This apart, Shivamurthy submitted this fake Will at the Principal District and Sessions Court and filed an application seeking a Probate of the Will, without even bothering to name her and her children as respondents. As there were no respondents in the case, the Court issued a Probate in favour of Shivamurthy on Mar. 9, 2023.

Later, she came to know that Shivamurthy (her Father-In-Law) was trying to dispose of the properties, that rightfully belonged to her late husband Prateep, in June 2024, the complaint said.

Sneha in her complaint, has appealed to take legal action against Shivamurthy and all others who have cheated her and her children by usurping the properties of her husband by creating a fake Will.