One Ram Kumar Singh filed a Probate petition under Section 276 of the Indian Succession Act praying for grant of probate of the WILL, executed by Mutari, wife of Krishna Ganjhu in favour of the applicant. It is the case of the applicant that Mutari was being looked after by the applicant, after the death of her husband, as the couple did not have any child and there was no one in the family. The widow, thus, executed a WILL, bequeathing all the properties mentioned therein, in favour of the applicant. The WILL was unregistered. Mutari died on 20.12.2006 and as there was no executor, the applicant filed an application for grant of probate.

In this matter The Jharkhand High Court stated that:

From the evidence of the witness, it is evident that there exist family members, who are agnates of the deceased testator, but in the probate application, family members were not made a party. Further, general notices were also not issued in the locality and notices were only sent to the State. This is a circumstance, which strikes the conscience of the Court. It is not explained as to why agnates of the deceased, who were alive, have not been made a party nor general notices were issued in the locality. Counsel appearing on behalf of the appellant also cannot give any proper explanation. This suggests that the claimant is trying to hide the existence of the WILL from the agnates.

If there are any suspicious circumstances, the burden is on the applicant to explain those circumstances to the satisfaction of the Court and after being fully satisfied about the explanation, the Court should pass an order granting probate of the WILL. Even in absence of any plea of fraud, coercion or undue influence in relation to execution of the WILL, but if there are circumstances, which gives rise to doubt about the genuineness of the WILL, it is for the applicant to satisfy the conscience of the Court. If there is strong suspicion against the genuineness of the WILL and if there are any circumstances to point that there are grounds of some doubt in execution of the said WILL by the testator, the Court can refuse grant of probate.