HC issues warrant in contempt case over ₹600-crore Bandra property
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has issued a bailable warrant against a Mumbai resident, Marina Manuel Fernandes, in a contempt case linked to a long-running inheritance dispute over Marina Manor, a prime Bandra property valued at around ₹600 crore. The court said Fernandes was evading notice and that her whereabouts were unknown.
Justice Sharmila U Deshmukh noted that a show-cause notice issued on December 11, 2025, could not be served to Fernandes, as she was not found at her Palghar address, while her Bandra address could not be traced. Inquiries revealed that she had left the premises long ago and that her present whereabouts were unknown, the court said. Observing that Fernandes appeared to be “avoiding service”, the court issued a bailable warrant, returnable on February 26.
The contempt case arises from an inheritance dispute over a 2,538 sqm Bandstand property comprising an old villa known as Marina Manor. The property originally belonged to Martha Eugenie Pereira, who, according to the complaint, left it to her niece, Marie Fernandes, under a will executed in 1972, which was probated in 1987.
According to the complaint, 919 sqm of the land was later developed through a builder, while the remaining 1,619 sqm, along with the bungalow, was bequeathed to the Archdiocese of Bombay for the construction of an educational institution.
Before her death in 2015, Marie Fernandes executed a will in 2012 in favour of her cousin, Marion Crasto. However, the complaint alleged that Marina Fernandes and others later prepared a fake will dated November 8, 2014, bearing the deceased’s forged signature, which was probated in 2017 on allegedly false and misleading information furnished to the high court. In February 2023, justice Arif S Doctor stayed the operation of the 2017 probate.
The contempt petition, filed through advocate Sunita Banis, alleged that Fernandes wilfully disobeyed the high court’s orders dated February 6 and April 3, 2023, which had stayed the probate and all related proceedings before the deputy collector in Bandra.
Despite the stay, Fernandes allegedly executed a power of attorney on March 13, 2023, and subsequent documents, including a letter of possession in favour of a real estate firm stating that the property had been “irrevocably sold and transferred”.
In a December 2025 order, the high court found a prima facie case of contempt, noting that Fernandes had knowingly exercised rights arising from a probate that had already been stayed. The court also said she had no independent right over the property except under the probate.
By a separate order passed the same day, the court also revoked the probate, holding that it had been obtained by concealing material facts and making false statements on oath.
