HC officers take charge of Priyamvada residence

Calcutta High Court appointed special officers today assumed charge of the Birla Park residence of the late Priyamvada Birla today to take stock of her personal belongings nine months after her demise in July 2005.

A cavalcade of six cars entered Birla Park after court hours carrying four special officers "" Ahin Choudhury, Pradip Ghosh, Ashok Banerjee, and Indra Prosonno Mukherjee "" to inventorise Primavada Birla's belongings and goods in her house.

The inhabitants of the cars were subject to scrutiny by the Birla Park security guards and even the special officers were stopped and forced to produce identification.

The Lodha solicitors "" Debanjan Mandal, counsels Pratap Chatterjee and Abhrajit Mitra "" were also present.

The Birla side was represented by solicitor N G Khaitan.

The special officers were appointed on the basis of a petition filed by the sisters of the late MP Birla "" Lakshmi Devi Newar and Radha Devi Mohta.

The officers would prepare a list of the goods and submit a report to the Court.

In the coming days, the officers would also visit the residences of Priyamvada Birla in Mumbai, New Delhi and Allahabad.

Within minutes of the lawyers' entry into Birla Park, Nandini Nopany, daughter of K K Birla, drove out of the premises.

Nopany was known to be close to the late Priyamvada Birla.

In her 1999 will, now being disputed in courts, Priyamvada Birla had indicated her desire that Nopany continue to be actively involved in charitable and philanthropic activities, subject to the overall guidance of Rajendra Singh Lodha.