Justice G. Radha Rani of the Telangana High Court set aside an order passed by the Hyderabad City Civil Court in an original petition filed by Nandamuri Laxmi Parvathi seeking to appoint her as the managing trustee of Basavatarakam Memorial Trust based on a supplementary will deed purportedly written by her late husband Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, TDP’s founder and former Chief Minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh.

The judge allowed the civil revision petition filed by Basavatarakam Memorial Trust and NTR’s son actor Nandamuri Balakrishna. Another son of NTR, N. Harikrishna, who was the third petitioner in the civil revision petition, died in a road accident.

The Trust was established by NTR in the name of his first wife Basavatarakam in Hyderabad. It runs a hospital to treat cancer patients. The trust is being run by Balakrishna currently.

After Basavatarakam’s death, NTR married Laxami Parvathi in 1994. NTR’s family members, however, did not accept NTR’s marriage with Laxmi Parvathi. Two years later, NTR passed away.

In 2009, Laxmi Parvathi moved the Hyderabad City Civil Court seeking a direction to appoint her as managing trustee of the Trust. To substantiate her claim, she presented a supplementary will said to have been written by NTR in 1995 making her managing trustee of the Trust.

She wanted the civil court to pass an order under Section 74 of the Indian Evidence Act and requested the court to instruct other members of the Trust not to interfere with her administration of the Trust. The supplementary will purportedly written by NTR had two witnesses—J. Venkata Subbaiah and Y. Thirupathi Rao.

NTR passed away in 1996 and the two witnesses died later. As such, Laxmi Parvathi presented J.V. Prasada Rao, son of the late Venkata Subbaiah, before the civil court. On November 18, 2018, the civil court examined Rao’s deposition and took on record his affidavit. Challenging this, the Trust and Balakrishna moved the HC by way of civil revision petition.