My father worked in police department had brought a land while in service through EMI's on My Grandmothers Name. Had to mortgage this property to my paternal aunt (his sister) to perform his small brothers wedding. Few years after this my Father passed away due to Heart Attack in 1997. I was only 10 years at that time. Taking advantage of this my fathers sisters fraudulently sold this property to a 3rd party without the consent of Legal heir ( My fathers wife or children in year 2007. Is there any way a litigation can be made by courts to get back the property or atleast give punishment to my fathers sisters who betrayed him. Note- property was on the name of Grandmother but it was entirely paid for by my father out of his salary. Would appreciate a response. Thank you.
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If property was in grand mother name 5en grand mother could have sold the property without consent of legal heirs of deceased father
your claim is now barred by limitation as property was sold in 2007 ie 19 years back
Your aunts could not have sold the property without grand mother signature . Kindly clarify whether sale deed was signed by grand mother or not
Yes she signed the sale deed but the property was not ancestral nor purchased with her earned money. As I said earlier it was purchased through EMI from my fathers salary only. Need your guidance on this point ☝️
Under the Limitation Act, 1963, a suit to challenge, set aside, or cancel a registered sale deed must generally be filed within three years from the date of the sale or from when the aggrieved person becomes aware of it.
2) since property was in grand mother name she is regarded as absolute owner of property
3) your father may have paid EMI is difficult to prove a "Benami" transaction after two decades. The registered sale deed in the grandmother's name holds more weight.
You can file a FIR in the said matter against the said feaudsters for cheating as well as if bank is also abetted can be roped in
What about Breach of trust. My father could have mortgaged the property somewhere else for this but he mortgaged with her sister since he trusted her and after his death she defrauded us by selling mortgaged property even the money after the sale was not shared with my Grandmother she was promised a gold chain but never given. Shouldn't my Aunt's be sent to jail for this fraud?
Was any paper work done with the mortgage . Was mortgage deed registered .?
was it equitable mortgage by deposit of title deeds .?
the problem is property was in grand mother name and sold with her consent
if grand mother did not receive sale proceeds she has not taken any legal proceedings against your aunt
seek phone consultation with any lawyer on this website
Well even my Grandmother passed away now. You can't expect an old lady to file a case on her daughter she believed in her daughters promise of gifting her gold until her last breath. Leave aside getting back the property for movement. Shouldnt my aunt's be prosecuted for selling something which they are not entitled too and not transferring the proceeds to actual owners?
If victim ie grand mother had not received sale proceeds it is for her to take legal proceedings against aunt for cheating and criminal breach of trust
admittedly during her lifetime grand mother even if she was cheated failed to take any legal proceedings
legal heirs of grand mother can file criminal case against aunt if they so desire
As the property stood in your grandmother’s name, the law presumes that she was the owner, even if your father paid every EMI.
After the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, courts do not easily allow recovery of such properties unless very strong proof exists.
Courts are extremely strict when the Benami purchaser is no longer alive.
It appears that your grandmother had mortgaged the property to your paternal aunt, it is not known whether the mortgage loan was redeemed or not. However your paternal aunt would have sold the mortgaged property as per law.
Whatever the property is reported to have been sold in the year 2007 hence any action taken in this regard at this stage will be barred by limitation even though you may claim that you became aware of this very late, but you have become major more than a decade ago, hence your claim may not be entertained because you should have claimed any rights within three years from the date of becoming major.
If the property was on your grandmother's name by a registered sale deed, then she had all full rights to sell the property. Moreover the property was in her possession even after your father's death, hence the sale of property to your aunt is not illegal. You people did not claim the property even after ten years of your father's death, therefore any claim made now may not be maintainable.
Your information from one post to another contradicts your own statement
The property was mortgaged in favor of your aunt, if the borrower has failed to redeem the property then the lender has full rights to sell the property under mortgage to recover the mortgage loan amount.
However you may consult a local lawyer in person with all details and seek advise to look for any possibilities in this regard.
The single most important fact — which unfortunately goes against you — is this: the property stood in your grandmother’s name, and she herself signed the sale deed.
Under Indian law, title follows the name on the registered document, not the source of money. Even if every rupee of EMI came from your father’s salary, that does not make him the legal owner unless there was a written trust deed, benami declaration, or contemporaneous document showing that your grandmother was only a name-lender. Courts do not accept oral family understandings after decades.
Once your grandmother executed the sale deed in 2007: • the transfer became legally valid, • the buyer obtained good title (assuming the buyer was bona fide), and • the sale cannot be set aside merely because the money originally came from your father.
On the question of fraud or breach of trust by your aunts:
Criminal law requires proof of a legally enforceable duty and dishonest intention at the time of entrustment.
Here, the fatal legal problem is this: • Your father mortgaged the property to his sister informally, not through a registered mortgage deed. • There is no registered charge, no loan agreement, no written acknowledgment fixing a legal obligation on your aunt. • After your father’s death, the legal owner (your grandmother) chose to sell the property herself.
Because of this, courts will say: There was no entrustment of property in law → therefore Section 406 (criminal breach of trust) does not survive.
There was no false representation to a purchaser → therefore Section 420 (cheating) will not survive.
Even morally reprehensible conduct does not become criminal unless the ingredients of the offence are met. Courts are very strict about this.
On sending your aunts to jail — I need to be absolutely honest with you: There is no realistic criminal prosecution possible today that will survive scrutiny, especially: • the sale happened in 2007, • the legal owner signed willingly, • your grandmother never challenged it in her lifetime, • limitation has long expired, • evidence is oral and family-based.
Courts will treat this as a family dispute with moral wrong, not a criminal offence.
On getting the property back — that door is effectively closed. Any civil suit for declaration or cancellation is hopelessly barred by limitation (3 years from knowledge, even with minor extension). Being a minor in 1997 does not help against a 2007 sale that was never challenged for over a decade.
What might still be possible — but only in theory — is: • a civil suit against your aunts for recovery of money, not property, if you have any documentary proof (letters, witnesses, admissions) that sale proceeds were meant for your father’s family and were misappropriated. Even this would be an uphill task and likely to fail on limitation.
I know this answer is painful, but it is better to know the truth than be pushed into futile litigation. Indian courts protect registered title holders and bona fide purchasers, even when family ethics were violated.
If your goal is justice in principle, the law does not support it now.
If your goal is punishment, criminal law does not sustain it.
If your goal is closure, the healthiest legal advice is to let this go and avoid reopening wounds that courts will not heal.
Yes she can be prosecuted