Significance of contemporaneous conduct and replies to legal notices

A party's contemporaneous conduct—such as executing a simultaneous registered rental agreement, paying monthly rents, and explicitly admitting tenancy liability in response to a legal notice—fatally undermines a subsequent belated plea that the primary sale transaction was nominal or sham. (Hemalatha (D) by Lrs. v. Tukaram (D) by Lrs. | 2026 INSC 179)