The Delhi high court on Wednesday issued summons in a suit filed by Bollywood actor Karisma Kapoor’s children Samaira Kapur (20) and Kiaan Raj Kapur (15) demanding a share in their late father and businessman Sunjay Kapur’s ₹30,000-crore estate, even as it refused to immediately pass an order of status quo on Sunjay’s properties.
A bench of justice Jyoti Singh however asked his wife Priya Kapur to file a list of the assets held by Sunjay and fixed October 9 as the next date of hearing.
“I am putting matter after two weeks for interim. In case something needs to be done or stay, I will do then,” justice Jyoti Singh said.
The suit was filed after Sunjay Kapur’s third wife Priya Kapur at a July 30 family meeting presented a will allegedly executed on March 21 – has also sought an injunction on the transfer or disposal of the property.
Sunjay Kapur was married to Priya at the time of his death. His marriage with actor Karisma Kapoor ended in 2016.
The petitioners, who demanded a 1/5th share in their late father’s estate, have alleged that the will presented to them by Priya Kapur in the July 30 meeting was forged, fabricated and emerged under suspicious circumstances.
Priya Kapur, at no earlier point, in telephonic conversations or through messaging, had ever disclosed the existence of the alleged will, the suit claimed, “As it is, the document had emerged under suspicious circumstances, which was being kept away from the plaintiffs. Neither a copy of the alleged purported will was provided nor shown to the plaintiffs or to their mother… [It] only adds to the suspicious circumstances in which the so-called will suddenly emerged after more than seven weeks of the bereavement of the plaintiffs’ father…” the plea alleged.
It added that defendant number 1 (Priya Kapur) had several times maintained that there was no will of the late businessman.
In their suit, actor Karisma Kapoor’s children have raised a question mark on the sequence of events leading to the revelation of the alleged will.
Priya Kapur, represented by senior advocate Rajiv Nayyar had argued that the suit was not maintainable & further submitted that the 2 children 6 days before filing the suit were given 1900 crore worth of assets from the trust. “I am the last wife of the deceased. In relation to the proceedings with her ex-husband [Karisma Kapoor’s divorce case with Sunjay Kapur], there were litigations after litigation that ultimately culminated in a bitter divorce process which ended in SC. Please have some sympathy for the soul of the deceased. I have a 6-year-old child. I am a widow. I am his last wife,” Nayyar submitted.
Priya and Sunjay’s son Azarius S Kapur (6), backed the will saying that the same was created in February and executed in front of witnesses in March.
“On March 24, there is a WhatsApp group of Sunjay Kapur and Priya Kapur. It was shared there. It is an original signed will,” senior advocate Akhil Sibal, representing Azarius S Kapoor, submitted.
Rani Kapur, Sunjay’s mother, also contested the validity of the will. “There is something incredibly unholy. ₹10,000 crore worth of assets should have been mine. I am 80-year-old,” Rani’s lawyer said
Sunjay Kapur, 53, former chairperson of Sona Comstar, an automotive technology company, died of a heart attack while playing polo in London on June 12, leaving his company in a churn. His mother Rani Kapur alleged that she was coerced into signing documents behind locked doors amid controversy around ₹30,000-crore Sona Group empire. On July 25, Rani Kapur wrote to the Sona Comstar board seeking deferment of the Annual General Meeting (AGM), but the meeting continued with Priya Kapur being appointed as a non-executive director of the company.