Proof of Will and Gift Deed fails where suspicious circumstances remain and execution is not duly established.

A Will must be proved by the propounder through due execution, testamentary capacity, and removal of suspicious circumstances; where attesting witnesses are unavailable, legally sufficient secondary evidence is still required. On the facts, execution was not satisfactorily established and doubts arising from the testator's condition and signature discrepancies were not dispelled, so the Will was not proved. A registered Gift Deed cannot be relied on under the proviso to Section 68 where execution is specifically denied; here, the Gift Deed also remained unproved and was affected by the same surrounding suspicious circumstances, so it could not be acted upon. The concurrent rejection of both documents was sustained.

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Issues: (i) Whether the Will was duly proved in the face of suspicious circumstances; (ii) Whether the Gift Deed was duly proved and could be relied upon without examination of the attesting witness.

Issue (i): Whether the Will was duly proved in the face of suspicious circumstances.

Analysis: A Will must be proved by its propounder, who must establish due execution, testamentary capacity, and the absence of suspicious circumstances. Where the attesting witnesses are unavailable, the propounder must still adduce legally sufficient secondary evidence. Here, the evidence did not satisfactorily establish execution or dispel the doubts arising from the surrounding circumstances, including the condition of the testator and discrepancies in the signatures.

Conclusion: The Will was not proved and was rightly disbelieved.

Issue (ii): Whether the Gift Deed was duly proved and could be relied upon without examination of the attesting witness.

Analysis: A registered document not being a Will may fall within the proviso to Section 68 only if execution is not specifically denied. In the present case, the validity of the Gift Deed was put in issue and denied, so the document had to be proved in accordance with the Evidence Act. The available evidence was insufficient, and the document was also affected by the suspicious circumstances surrounding the companion Will executed on the same day.

Conclusion: The Gift Deed was not duly proved and could not be acted upon.

Final Conclusion: The concurrent findings rejecting the Will and Gift Deed were sustained, and no interference was warranted with the dismissal of the appeal.

Ratio Decidendi: A document required to be attested cannot be relied upon unless proved in the manner prescribed by the Evidence Act, and suspicious circumstances surrounding a testamentary or allied disposition must be satisfactorily dispelled by the propounder.

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