It’s a high-stakes boardroom battle and the gloves are coming off. On Tuesday, the Delhi high court became the latest arena for the inheritance tussle over late business tycoon Sunjay Kapur’s ₹30,000 crore estate as Samaira and Kiaan, his children with film actor Karisma Kapoor, accused their stepmother Priya Kapur of “forging” his will and being an “acute gambler”.
On June 12 this year, Kapur, who was the chairperson of Sona Comstar, an automotive technology company, suffered a cardiac arrest while playing polo in London. (FILE)
Represented by senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, Samaira and Kiaan alleged that Priya, along with witnesses Nitin Sharma and Dinesh Agarwal, had conspired to create the will without Sunjay’s involvement.
“If this forgery is proved, she loses all her wealth which she is accumulating under the trust… there’s a clause to that effect…. The lady is an acute gambler. Good luck to her. She (Priya) is not a true inheritor of the spirit of Sunjay Kapur. She is a pretender of Sunjay’s assets,” he submitted, while urging the court to restrain Priya from creating third-party rights in Sunjay’s estate.
On June 12 this year, Kapur, who was the chairperson of Sona Comstar, an automotive technology company, suffered a cardiac arrest while playing polo in London. He was first married to Delhi-based designer Nandita Mahtani, later divorced her and got married to Karisma with two children from that marriage – Samaira and Kiaan –, divorced the Bollywood star in 2016 and married model-actor and business woman Priya Sachdev the next year. Priya, who was once one of Delhi’s best-known society figures, and Kapur have a son, Azarius.
According to Samaira and Kiaan’s suit, it was only on July 30 at a family meeting that Priya presented a will. In their suit demanding a 1/5th share in their father’s estate, the children alleged that Priya, at no earlier point, in telephonic conversations or through messaging, had disclosed the existence of the alleged will. The children had moved court on September 9.
On Tuesday, senior advocate Jethmalani contended that the will, which purportedly leaves Sunjay’s entire estate to Priya, lacked any evidence of having been personally drafted by him. He pointed out significant flaws in both its content and execution. “When you get ‘she’ and ‘her’ wrong in four different places… anyone who relates him with a will like this would commit a disservice. It would ruin the man’s reputation,” he said, referring to pronouns that were ostensibly meant to refer to Kapur and not a woman.
The will, Jethmalani asserted, was riddled with suspicious circumstances since it named Samaira, Kiaan, Azairus and Safira Chatwal (Priya’s daughter from her first husband (hotelier Vikram Chatwal) as legatees but left out his mother Rani Kapur.
“There are suspicious circumstances about the emergence of the will and its final delivery. There is a serious infirmity at all the different stages of the will. Unless Sunjay was of unsound mind, incapable of reading English, he would have never signed this. He was passionate about his family, particularly his children. As all good parents should be. What’s surprising is that in the event all of my legatees as mentioned herein, but what about the mother? She’s not a legatee in the will. Whatever happened, provision was always made for her (mother) when Sunjay Kapur was alive, but I’m sure, that’s not the case for her now,” he said.
Jethmalani described Sunjay as a “digital ghost,” and argued that the will bore no indication of having been drafted by him. He contended that the document lacked authenticity, pointing out the absence of crucial details such as the exact time and location of its execution. “There’s no proof that the will was drafted by Sunjay. Sunjay Kapur was a very meticulous person. There is no digital footprint, no handwriting, no evidence of his physical involvement – he’s a digital ghost,” Jethmalani submitted.
Previously, he had accused Priya of acting like a “greedy Cinderella stepmother” and had asserted that the she, after Sunjay’s death, was in a tearing hurry to appropriate his asset; and also pointed out that Azarius’s name was misspelt at multiple places in the will, while Samaira’s address was incorrect.
Just a month after Kapur’s death, a family dispute erupted as his mother, Rani Kapur, claimed to be the sole beneficiary of the estate of her late husband and company founder Surinder Kapur. In a letter to the Sona Comstar board, she further alleged that she was coerced into signing certain documents without revealing their content by individuals she did not name.
Previously, HT reported that in a letter dated July 24, Rani called for deferring the company’s annual general meeting (AGM) scheduled for the next day. She expressed concern that certain individuals would be appointed to the Sona Comstar board as nominees of the Kapur family without her consent. However, the AGM was held, where Priya was appointed non-executive director. “It is unfortunate that while the family and I are still in mourning, some people have chosen this as an opportune time to wrest control and usurp the family legacy,” Rani Kapur wrote. HT has seen a copy of the letter, in which she also stated that her son had died “under highly suspicious and unexplained circumstances.”
The hearing in the suit filed by the two children will continue on Wednesday, with Priya’s lawyer likely commencing the arguments.