Benami transaction requires proof of real intention beyond source of funds; financial assistance alone is insufficient.

A purchase is not benami merely because the consideration came from someone other than the transferee. The party alleging benami must prove the real intention behind the transaction from the totality of circumstances, including relationship of the parties, motive, possession, custody of title deeds, and subsequent conduct. The source of funds is only one relevant factor and is not determinative by itself. On the evidence, the plaintiff failed to show that the father intended to buy the properties for himself or for the family through the sons' names, so the properties were not proved benami and no share in them was established.

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Issues: Whether the suit properties purchased in the names of the sons were benami transactions on the footing that the father supplied the purchase money, and whether the plaintiff was entitled to claim a 1/4th share in those properties.

Analysis: The burden to establish a benami transaction lay on the party asserting it. The source of purchase money was only one relevant circumstance and not by itself determinative. The true character of the transaction depended on the intention of the person who contributed the money, to be gathered from the relationship of the parties, the surrounding circumstances, the motive for the arrangement, possession, custody of title deeds, and subsequent conduct. On the evidence, the plaintiff failed to prove that the father intended to purchase the properties for himself or for the family through the names of the sons. The financial assistance given by the father, by itself, was insufficient to convert the purchases into benami transactions.

Conclusion: The purchase of the suit properties was not proved to be benami, and the plaintiff was not entitled to any share in those properties.

Ratio Decidendi: A purchase is not benami merely because the consideration came from a person other than the transferee; benami must be proved by establishing the contributor's intention from the totality of surrounding circumstances, and the source of funds alone is insufficient.

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