Dr Jamshed Bhabha will not genuine, allege Department of Atomic Energy staff; write to CM Devendra Fadnavis

Employees of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), who have been fighting a legal battle to preserve the auctioned Mehrangir Bungalow at Malabar Hill where Dr Homi Bhabha resided, have a suspicion regarding Dr Jamshed Bhabha's will and, hence, have written to the chief minister.

They believe that the will, through which the NCPA was bequeathed the bungalow, is not genuine and want the CM to order a police inquiry into it. The will has been probated.

Last June, the bungalow was auctioned by the NCPA for Rs372 crore. The DAE employees, however, demanded that the property be declared a heritage site. They had also approached the Bombay high court, which directed them to make a representation to the central government and before the charity commissioner for declaring it a national monument. The DAE employees have opposed the sale and the proceedings are still pending.

A letter written last month by president of National Forum for Aided Institutions Employees Ram Dhuri, who had also approached the high court seeking a stay on the bungalow's auction, states Dr Jamshed Bhabha died on May 30, 2007, but the will was nowhere to be found until 2010. It alleges that there's no clarity about the custodian of the bungalow for those three years. Moreover, it claims, there are discrepancies in the will regarding the style of writing and signatures missing in a few places.

The NCPA, in a statement given last year, had said "The time has come when the NCPA needs to match up to international standards and put India on the global cultural map and proceeds from the sale will be used for that. Among the many upgrade plans, the NCPA is working on starting an educational institution and creating a bank of instruments."

However, DAE representatives, recently had also met BJP leaders in Delhi, urging them to take up the bungalow matter with prime minister Narendra Modi, to acquire the bungalow and declare it a protected monument.

Recently, Devendra Fadnavis wrote a letter to Modi, stating that Dhuri had made available a survey map as evidence to prove that the bungalow had appeared in the said map surveyed in 1915 and corrected in 1932, and thus declare Mehrangir a national monument as the structure is over 100 years old.