Udaipur(Rajasthan) – An Udaipur court has ordered the registration of a criminal case against two individuals for forging a will in the name of a man who had been murdered six years earlier, in a shocking attempt to grab around 10 bighas of ancestral land belonging to an illiterate tribal woman. The case highlights how land mafias in Rajasthan continue to exploit the vulnerability of poor, uneducated Adivasi families, often with forged documents and misuse of official records.
The victim, Manki Bai, a pardanishin (veiled) tribal woman from Sapetiya village (now Amberi, Badgaon panchayat samiti, Udaipur district), lost her father, Wala (or Amra) Bhil, to murder when she was just 5-6 years old. On November 20, 1978, two relatives – Deva son of Amra Gameti and Kushal son of Uda Gameti, both from Bhilwara – killed him. The trauma of her father’s brutal death has stayed with Manki Bai all her life.
After her father’s death, the family struggled under her mother’s care. But the real ordeal began when a relative named Bhima, driven by greed, hatched a conspiracy to seize the family’s agricultural land, now worth crores of rupees.
Speaking to our Reporter, Manki Bai said she is a poor, illiterate tribal woman who observes purdah. The accused, all from nearby villages, knew her family well. In 1984, Bhima and others created a completely fake will dated April 7, 1984, falsely showing her deceased father as the executor who bequeathed the property to Bhima.
The forged will bore signatures of two witnesses: Mangilal Gayri from Dangiyon ka Guda and Hameri Bai (wife of Ganesh Dangi). They allegedly used someone else’s thumb impression, claiming it was the deceased Wala’s, despite knowing full well that he had been killed years earlier.
The conspiracy went further. On October 15, 2008, the accused obtained a fake death certificate for Wala from Sapetiya gram panchayat (registration no. 24, dated September 12, 2008). Using the bogus will, they initiated mutation (name transfer) of the disputed land.
In 2018, the then patwari of Sapetiya prepared an investigation report and site map, which the accused manipulated by providing false statements about the death and other details. They got the land mutated in revenue records, even changed its classification, and began the process of selling it to others.
Manki Bai alleged that the accused kept her family in the dark through deceit, forcing signatures and thumb impressions on various papers and stamps without explaining their true nature.
How the Fraud Came to Light
Manki Bai discovered the fake will while examining documents related to her father’s old murder case. She approached the District and Sessions Judge in Udaipur with a complaint on July 20, 2023. Under Section 200 of the CrPC, statements of Manki Bai and her son Udaylal were recorded.
After reviewing oral and documentary evidence, the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (PCPNDT Court), Udaipur, found clear signs of criminal conspiracy. The court noted that Wala’s death in 1978 was proven by earlier judicial records, yet a will was fabricated in 1984 naming him as the executor.
The witnesses, Mangilal Gayri and Hameri Bai, signed despite knowing about the murder, making their actions part of the forgery.
The court cleared seven other accused (including officials and villagers) as they were not the creators of the forged document and gained no direct benefit. Many were illiterate witnesses in the patwari’s report, and Manki Bai herself had earlier acknowledged the will due to being misled.
However, the 1984 will was declared forged since the supposed executor had died in 1978.
Court’s Strong Action
The Special Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (PCPNDT), Udaipur, took cognizance against Mangilal Gayri and Hameri Bai under Sections 467 (forgery of valuable security/will), 468 (forgery for cheating), 471 (using forged document as genuine), and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.
Since Bhima (the main beneficiary) is deceased, no case could be registered against him. The court directed that the complaint be treated as a criminal case, with summons to be issued to the accused for appearance on February 13, 2026.
This ruling offers hope to Manki Bai after decades of struggle, exposing how illiteracy and silence from authorities allow land mafias to prey on Rajasthan’s tribal communities. Hundreds of similar cases exist where forged documents strip Adivasis of their rights.
Activists say stronger protection for tribal land and awareness about legal rights are urgently needed to prevent such injustices.