By Lokpal Sethi
The son and grand daughter of former chief minister Mohan Lal Sukhadia, who ruled Rajasthan for near two decades, are locked in a family property dispute and matter has reached the courts.
Alpna Kothari, grand daughter of Sukhadia has filed a case in Udaipur court against her father Arun Sukhadia, second son of Mohan Lal, stating that he is fraudulently taking away the property of her grandfather.
The dispute is over the Dugra Nursery, a prime property in Udaipur, and Alpna claims and all Sukhadia children and grand children have a share in the property under the Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) Act.
Sukhadia, who hailed from Udaipur, had two sons and five daughters. Alpana Kothari, who lives in Mumbai, in her petition before the court claimed that, in November 2002, her father came to her and got her to sign on blank papers. She further says her father had said that since the property came under the UDF, she had to sign the papers which were to be submitted to the Income Tax department. He also talked about the will left behind by his father, in which he had divided certain properties among his sons and daughters.
“But during all these years my father, on one pretext or other has refused so show me the will of my grandfather,” Alpana charges in her petition.
In June 2008 in reply to a letter from Alpana her father told her that Dugra Nursery was not the property of his father but belonged to his mother Indubala, who had willed it to him.
Kothari in the petition has also said her father was deliberately hiding the will of her grandfather, in which he had divided the property equally among all family members.