Forged will: Bollywood actor Chandrachur Singh accuses aunt, cousins of stealing inheritance in Aligarh

A dispute over a prominent family estate culminated in legal action when Bollywood actor Chandrachur Singh walked into Rorawar police station in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, to file a formal complaint against his own kin.

Police have registered an FIR naming seven people, including Singh’s aunt, Gaytri Devi, two cousins, and four others. The actor accused his uncle and other family members of forging the signature of his late grandfather, Thakur Harender Pal Singh, a well-known landowner from Jalalpur village on the outskirts of Aligarh.

According to the complaint, the disputed will was executed in 1997 while Harender Pal Singh was critically ill and physically incapable of signing legal documents. Singh contends that his relatives used the fraudulent document to systematically strip his late father, Captain Baldev Singh, of his rightful share in the ancestral estate.

Singh further noted that his father was absent from Aligarh when the document was drafted, and pointed out that his other uncle, Puniya Pratap Singh, had passed away prior to Harender Pal Singh's death.

Armed with this disputed will, the accused allegedly carried out the illegal sale of several prime properties, including agricultural land and an ancestral haveli, over the course of several years.

Singh’s father, Baldev Singh, served as a former MLA from Khair, Uttar Pradesh, while his mother, Krishna Kumari Devi, is the daughter of the Maharaja of Bolangir in Odisha. This aristocratic heritage has kept the family's extensive landholdings and historic haveli in Aligarh under intense public scrutiny.

The conflict flared publicly last year when Gaytri Devi dismissed Chandrachur’s claims as fabricated, maintaining the 1997 will was authentic and accusing the actor of attempting to falsely implicate her. The actor and his brother had previously visited the Jalalpur police chowki in Aligarh to present their side of the property argument. Local authorities are now auditing land records, signatures and transaction histories tied to the 1997 will.

Chandrachur Singh made his Hindi film debut in 1996 with Tere Mere Sapne, produced by Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited. That same year, he earned widespread acclaim and the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut for his role in Gulzar’s Maachis alongside Tabu. He went on to star in notable titles like Kya Kehna and Josh — appearing alongside Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai — and featured in recent projects including Cuttputlli.