A taxi driver has launched a legal challenge against his brother after being excluded from their father’s £400,000 will. He was allegedly accused of showing “disrespect” by wearing a tartan hat at the funeral.
Gowerdhan Dass died aged 89 in February 2024. His estate was left to his youngest son, driving instructor Harish Verma, and Harish’s wife, Paramjit.
The inheritance was distributed under a will signed in November 2023, only three months before Gowerdhan’s unexpected death.
The document has since triggered a bitter court dispute between Harish, 57, and his older brother Bani Verma, a 67-year-old cab driver.
Bani claims their father was “unduly influenced” into abandoning an earlier 2015 will, which had divided the estate equally among the family.
Lawyers representing Bani allege that Harish turned their father against his eldest son and spent his money before his death. They claim £18,750 was used to buy a Jaguar Land Rover for Harish’s wife.
Richard Buston, counsel for Bani Verma, told the court that Harish had “decimated” his father’s fortune. He also alleged that Harish and Paramjit isolated Gowerdhan, describing him as “elderly, frail and vulnerable”, from his wider family during the final years of his life.
Harish denies the claims. He maintains that Bani was emotionally distant from their father, treated him disrespectfully in his later years and mocked his memory by wearing a brightly coloured tartan bonnet at the funeral.
Bani Verma, 67, pictured outside Central London County Court, is embroiled in a legal dispute with his brother Harish over their late father’s £400,000 will
Harish’s lawyers have accused Bani Verma of “disrespecting” their father by wearing a tartan Tam O’Shanter hat at his funeral
Gowerdhan Dass died aged 89 in February 2024, leaving his estate to his youngest son, driving instructor Harish Verma (pictured), and Harish’s wife Paramjit under a will made in 2023
The brothers are now asking the court to decide which of their father’s wills should be upheld.
Central London County Court heard that Gowerdhan’s 2015 will divided his assets into four shares, benefiting the families of Harish, Bani and the couple’s two other children.
The 2023 will took a markedly different approach, leaving the entire estate to Harish and his wife and providing nothing for Bani or the rest of the family.
Nina Roberts, representing Harish, told Judge Jonathan Cohen that the change reflected Gowerdhan’s close relationship with his younger son. She said Gowerdhan visited Harish “every day” after moving from Southall to Slough in 2010.
Although Gowerdhan relied on and trusted Harish, Ms Roberts said he remained independent, including travelling to India for between two and four months each year.
Bani has said he visited his father as many as four times a year. However, Ms Roberts argued that the evidence suggested his last visit was in January 2022. Gowerdhan had previously worked as a surveyor before taking a job at Heathrow Airport.
She also referred to Gowerdhan’s mobile phone records, which she said showed no calls from Bani between February 2022 and his father’s death.
“It is therefore submitted that the court can conclude that the last visit from Bani was nearly two years before the 2023 will,” she said.
Central London County Court heard that Gowerdhan’s earlier 2015 will (pictured) divided his money four ways between the families of Harish, Bani and his two other children
Harish’s wife Paramjit Kaur Verma is seen here outside Central London County Court after hearing in dispute over the will of her father-in-law Gowerdhan Dass
Bani’s lawyers are accusing Harish of plundering their father’s money before he died, including using £18,750 to buy this Jaguar Land Rover car pictured for his wife
Harish and his wife had become the anchor for Gowerdhan during the last two years of his life, argued the barrister.
And the solicitor who officiated during the final will process had recorded ‘lack of contact’ as the driving force behind him cutting Bani out, the court also heard.
Ms Roberts also said Bani showed ‘disrespect’ for their father both during his life and even afterwards, pointing out he donned ‘inappropriate’ Scottish headgear on the day of his funeral while ‘laughing and smiling as if it were a wedding’.
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She said: ‘It is submitted that his actions since the deceased’s death call into question the credibility of Bani’s evidence.
‘On the day of the funeral, Bani wore a Scottish tartan Tam O’ Shanter hat to Harish’s home.’
This was disrespectful to the deceased since neither of them have Scottish heritage, Ms Roberts told the court.
She said: ‘It is submitted that this behaviour demonstrates the level of respect Bani had for the deceased in his lifetime.’
But Bani’s barrister rejected the claims, telling the judge that Harish had cut him off from contact with their father in his final years.
Mr Buston said: ‘Bani Verma contends that, during the material period, the deceased was elderly, frail and was isolated by (Harish) and (his wife), who have taken control over his finances and in the latest round of bank statements disclosed appeared to have made repeated and significant withdrawals / transfers / payments from the deceased’s accounts, running them down.
‘In short, Bani says the deceased was vulnerable and was exploited by Harish, who over time made himself joint account holder to the deceased’s accounts and shut the deceased off from friends and family and had a hand in the creation of the 2023 will.’
Mr Buston also claimed Harish exerted ‘undue influence’ over the pensioner and transferred ‘streams’ of cash from his dad’s accounts.
Despite Harish’s insistence that he did not control his father’s finances, Mr Buston said this was ‘difficult to reconcile’ with multiple cash transfers involving a ‘substantial amount of the deceased’s money’.
He pinpointed seven specific cash transfers, totalling around £41,000, made to Harish or his family, which he claimed called for an explanation.
These are said to have included £18,750 paid into Harish’s account to buy a Jaguar Land Rover ‘subsequently said to have been gifted to Paramjit’.
Other non-specific amounts of cash originating from Gowerdhan were spent on Harish’s ‘family travel, celebrations, food and gifts’, alleged the barrister.
As Gowerdhan grew increasingly old and frail, he was also gradually ‘isolated’ from Bani and his wider family by Harish, claimed Mr Buston – adding that Harish led their father to wrongly believe his older son had ‘abandoned’ him.
Mr Buston said: ‘In the present case, the court is invited to infer that the account allegedly given by the deceased that Bani and other members of the family had ceased contact with or abandoned him, did not reflect the true history of the family relationships.
‘It was contradicted by the evidence of continuing visits, telephone contact, and family occasions.’
Rejecting claims that Harish genuinely believed that his brother had cut off contact with his dad, the barrister continued: ‘The 2015 will divided the estate between the principal branches of the family.
‘The 2023 will excluded those said to have abandoned the deceased and conferred the entire residue upon Harish and his wife.
‘Harish also had both the opportunity and a substantial financial motive to poison the deceased’s mind.
‘The court is accordingly invited to find, on the balance of probabilities and upon strong and cogent evidence, that Harish deliberately or recklessly promoted a false account of abandonment and estrangement; that the account poisoned the deceased’s mind against Bani and other natural beneficiaries; and that it materially caused the execution of the 2023 will.’
Ms Roberts said Harish denies inducing his father to ‘falsely believe that Bani did not call or visit’ – denying claims of ‘fraudulent calumny’ by her client.
Gowerdhan had been mentally sharp in his last years and knew what he was doing when he signed off his last will, she said, adding that there was no question of Harish trying to isolate him.
Ms Roberts told the court: ‘The deceased was a jolly, sociable man who had a close relationship with his youngest son, as demonstrated by their involvement in each other’s lives, including financial transactions dating back to the joint purchase of a property in India in the 1990s.
‘Whilst Bani may have expected an inheritance as the son of the deceased, this does not lead to Harish having coerced his father into making the 2023 will.’
After two days in court, the judge adjourned the case in order for the parties to put in more evidence, with the case set to resume later this month.