We have received a gift of land from our grandfather about 28 years ago (by Regd gift deed). The deed was executed by our grandfather and his son jointly. We built a temporary house about 25 years ago and lived there for 10 years and we moved to a different place. Some of our relatives lived in the house for about 5 years and they too moved out and the house condition was not good and nobody has been living there for last 10 years . Now one of the joint donors (i.e son of grandfather) has taken possession of this dilapidated house.
Unfortunately we lost/misplaced original gift deed. We have taken a certified copy from Sub-registrar. This copy does not have any signatures or thumb impressions. It says who attested the deed. But these two attesters also passed away. So only person left is one of the joint donors and now he claims he never executed the deed and his signatures on the deed were forged by his deed who is no more.
We are considering to file a suit to reclaim the property saying that the gift deed is genuine. However, we are also concerned if proving the deed is difficult in view of attestors not available and original deed is lost. Can you please comment. Also is there a way to get copies of thumb impression and signatures made at sub-registrar office so as to assess our chances. What is the procedure to get copy of thumb impression register.
