HC comes to rescue of nonagenarian woman

New Delhi, Aug 20 (UNI) The Delhi High Court today ordered cancellation of the gift deed of a property which was fraudulently executed by the grandson of a 90-year-old woman.

Rebuking grandson Chaitnya Arora, Chief Justice M K Sharma and Justice Sanjiv Khanna directed him to get the gift deed cancelled immediately and return Rs 4.50 lakh to his grandmother, Prem D Lal, which he had withdrawn from her account to pay the fees of the stamp papers for the deed.

The court ordered Chaitnya, who is staying in Singapore, to return the passport, green card, blank cheques and other documents to the woman. It directed the police to ensure that only the she had access to her house and no one else without her permission.

The judges told Chaitnya to submit his passport to the police till he did not comply with all the directions passed by the court.

The case came to light when Sumita Kapil, a lawyer and Prem Lal's neighbour, noticed builders visiting the house H-19, Green Park Extension.

Prem Lal retired as a doctor from the CHGS and has three daughters, all living in the US. She would visit them frequently and was even a green card holder. One of the daughters' son Chaitnya allegedly persuade her to accompany him to Singapore. She was well looked after but her property in India was usurped by him in a fraudulent way.

Prem Lal was assured that once the property was gifted to Chaitnya, it would be distributed equally among her other daughters. He got blank cheques signed from his grandmother and withdrew money from her account to pay the charges of the stamp papers.

He executed a gift deed in his name by getting her signatures on blank official papers.

The other two daughters were not aware that their mother was taken to Singapore. The daughters, Nalini Ahuluwalia and Sarita Sharma, came to India and filed a ''habeas corpus'' in the court(to produce their mother in court). As police were not able to trace her, a summons was issued to Chaitnya at Singapore to produce the elderly woman in court.

She was produced two days ago but her property was locked and she had no access to her house.

The court conducted an in camera proceeding with her for almost three hours and her statement was recorded in open court, where she denied gifting or selling her property to anyone. The court found that not only the grandson but even the maids of the house, having access to her bank accounts, were duping her.

The court expressed dismay over the episode and said, ''What is this? Have all men become vultures? You are pouncing on the property of an old woman. Is this how you take care of your elders?'' UNI