Not spoken to Uddhav for 3 yrs, didn’t tell him about father’s wish to give me part of property: Jaidev Thackerey

Appearing for Uddhav, advocate Rohit Kapadia questioned why he had not done so. “My father told me whenever he and I had a discussion on any subject, he did not want me to talk about it or mention it to Uddhav because he did not want any discord between us brothers,” he replied.

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Kapadia also questioned whether Jaidev was not curious about the documents that Balasaheb had spoken about, mentioning that Uddhav had taken his signatures on them and taken them away. “No, my father’s wish which he expressed to me was that I should not do or say anything which might result in disagreement in the household and family,” Jaidev said.

Bal Thackeray, who died on November 17, 2012, had signed his will on December 13, 2011. Jaidev had filed a suit in the High Court, challenging the validity of his father’s will. He said Bal Thackeray was of an unsound mind and had been influenced by his brother and current Sena chief, Uddhav.

A total of 58 questions were asked by Kapadia over a span of nearly three hours. At one point, Jaidev, who was wearing a sky blue shirt with navy blue pants and also had a neck brace on, complained of ill-health and sought adjournment of the matter. Getting angry, Justice Gautam Patel pointed out that Jaidev had challenged the will. “I cannot conduct the trial at your convenience. We have eight witnesses to go and this cross-examination is going to take some time,” he said, while allowing for a short break during the hearing. Jaidev later apologised.

Jaidev also informed the court, while replying to a question, that he had not spoken or met Uddhav since the petition was filed in the court in 2013. “Uddhav does not return my phone calls or reply to my text messages,” he added, further stating that he had not spoken to his brother in the last three years.

On being questioned on how he came to know about his father’s will, Jaidev responded that he came to know about the same “while he and his wife were searching the internet for some information” and came across a newspaper article some time in December 2012, which referred to the will.

He said from his end, relations remained cordial with Uddhav during the period he found out about the will.

Advocate Kapadia asked Jaidev when he had moved out of Matoshree, the residence of the Thackerays, and was informed that it was around 1994-95. He was further questioned if he ever expressed any intention to shift back. “The question did not ever arise of my ever returning because of an incident in the family. I am not in a position to disclose the incident in court or in public. However, I can say this incident was not with my father,” Jaidev replied, adding that he had once expressed his intention to move back to Matoshree in 2003 but did not specify the reason.

Jaidev was asked if his former wife Smita ever shifted out of Matoshree and if she continued to visit the residence after moving out. “She moved out of Matoshree and into a bungalow in the year 2003,” he said, adding that she continued to visit Matoshree sometimes after that.

In terms of who occupied what portion of the house, he said, “The arrangement was that my parents had their own suites on the first floor. There was a room that Bindumadhav (Jaidev’s deceased brother) used whenever he visited and I stayed in another room with my family. Uddhav used to stay with his family on the terrace,” he stated.