Live-in partner accused of forging education baron Jondhale’s death cert

THANE: A fresh case was filed on September 15 against Geeta Khare, the late Shivajirao Jondhale’s live-in partner, her children Varsha Khare and Harshkumar Khare and relatives Santosh Deshmukh and Ravikant Yashvantrao for allegedly forging his death certificate to seize his property. Shivajirao, who was the president of the Jondhale Education Group in Thane, died of liver cancer in April.
Sagar Jondhale, Shivajirao’s son, alleged that the accused forged medical documents and submitted a fake death certificate to government officials to claim the property. The court’s inquiry with the doctor named on the death certificate revealed that he had not treated Shivajirao. Consequently, the court has ordered a fresh case against Khare and her family members. The issue emerged during the probate process, which requires verifying a will’s compliance with legal standards, including the testator’s capacity, proper execution and the absence of undue influence or fraud.
Shivajirao Jondhale was an education baron from Thane district, who established his empire by starting schools, polytechnics and engineering and pharmacy colleges in Dombivli and Asangaon through the Samarth Samaj and Vighnaharta Trust respectively. While Samartha Samaj was under the control of Sagar, the Vighnaharta trust was controlled by Gita Khare.
In the first case filed by Sagar in August, the Kalyan district court accepted his allegations and instructed the Vishnunagar police to file charges against Geeta and her family. The police filed charges under various sections, including culpable homicide not amounting to murder, mental harassment, negligence and criminal conspiracy.
In this case, Sagar had accused Geeta Khare and her family of deliberately withholding his father’s liver cancer treatment in order to seize his property. Shivajirao was diagnosed with liver cancer in January 2022. Despite Sagar’s efforts to arrange for his treatment in several hospitals, the Khare family was allegedly opposed to his involvement and also refused his liver donation offer. They allegedly kept Shivajirao away from proper treatment and provided false reasons to doctors, which led to his death in April, according to Sagar’s complaint.
According to the police, Shivajirao had four children from his legal wife Vaishali. Geeta Khare joined the institution as a teacher some years ago, and an affair between her and Shivajirao led to their marriage, resulting in a daughter Varsha Khare (Deshmukh). When Shivajirao was alive, Varsha had approached the court to determine who her biological father was. In April 2023, the court, after seeing DNA reports, declared Shivajirao and Geeta as the biological parents of Varsha.
Geeta Khare was unavailable for comment.