Surat: A US court has ordered a Virginia resident to remove his encroachment from land owned by the late Kanu Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson, and his wife Shiva Gandhi, after a 20-month legal battle led by Parimal Desai from Surat.The dispute involved 30 acres of land adjoining Shenandoah National Park in Warren County, Virginia, which the Gandhi couple bought in 1987. During their final years in South Gujarat, they created a charitable trust and transferred their assets to it. Desai now serves as managing trustee.Talking to TOI, Parimal Desai said, “It began when US national Gregory Black sent a legal notice to my residence on Jan 10, 2025. Black claimed the land by the adverse possession rule of Virginia, which allows a person to own land after 15 years of possession if five conditions are met. He ultimately could not prove his exclusive and actual possession condition and the ‘hostile claim’ condition.”Kanu Gandhi and Shiva Gandhi returned to India in 2013 and spent their final years in South Gujarat. Kanu Gandhi died in Surat in Nov 2016. Under his will, his assets passed to Shiva Gandhi.In 2018, Shiva Gandhi established ‘The Dr Schiva and Kanu Ramdas Mohandas Gandhi Charitable Trust’ and registered her will. After her death in 2020, the will was executed and Desai took charge as managing trustee. The trust inherited her properties and financial assets to support its charitable activities.Desai said he first visited the Virginia property in 2024 and commissioned a survey at a cost of $4,500.“As I learnt about the land in Virginia, I went to the property in 2024 and got the survey done. If the trust wanted to do anything with land, it had to be in its possession. I got the will probated in a US court in 2025 and got the land title in the trust’s name,” he said.Black claimed he had occupied the land since 2008. In court he cited trails, a cabin, tree stands, a culvert and other improvements on the property, along with photographs from to support his claim.Desai said, “I had hired lawyers in the US and worked in India to win the claim. I used artificial intelligence (AI) to find the ways to contest the claim. When the final trial took place, from Sep 8 to 11, I told the court that Kanu Gandhi was Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson and he and his wife has donated the properties to the trust, which has the objective of propagating Gandhian philosophy.“We could prove with GIS maps that the cabin was not there for 15 years. I also went there many times since 2020 which disproved his claim of actual possession. We also found another woman residing on the land, which belied Black’s claim that he had exclusive possession.”In the order dated Oct 21, Judge Daryl L. Funk of the Warren County Circuit Court ruled in favour of Desai and the trust. The court directed Black to pay $11,375 towards the fees of the Guardian ad Litem representing unknown heirs.The court also ordered Black to remove the cabin, hunting stands, hunting huts and personal belongings from the property within 30 days at his own expense. Black was directed to surrender possession of the land and cease entering or exercising any ownership rights over it.
