Late businessman Sunjay Kapur's mother Rani Kapur has told the Delhi High Court that there has been a "massive concealment" of her son's assets by his wife Priya Sachdev Kapur. Appearing for Rani Kapoor, senior advocate Vaibhav Gaggar said her son's annual salary was Rs 60 crore. But his bank balance was less than Rs 2 crore and he had crypto assets of around Rs 1.69 crore.
Priya Kapur, he contended, has hidden the details of his assets from the court and there is suspicion that the money has been moved abroad.
"Massive concealment. This house (farmhouse in Delhi's Rajokri area) is built by my late husband. There are more than 50 pieces of artwork there... Sunjay Kapur had no life insurance, no rental income, and mutual funds? His salary was Rs 60 crore, and we are saying that he has only Rs 1.7 crore in his accounts," Rani Kapoor contended.
Gaggar asked the court to pass direction to Priya Kapur to furnish details about her and Sunjay Kapur's assets going back two years and sought an interim order for status quo.
"My lady may seek details of two years, not just of Mr Kapur but also of Defendant No 1 (Priya Kapur) because the money has moved. Any interim order must be in the nature of status quo ante because the money has moved across borders, potentially," he said.
Gaggar argued that Rani Kapur and her late husband had built the company together. Even though her husband had passed on his entire assets to her, she has not even been mentioned in Sunjay Kapur's Will.
"An 80-year-old has been told today that she has not even been mentioned in the Will. There is not even a whisper about her. That she has no ownership in the company built by her husband, which was exclusively left to her," he said.
Gaggar said Rani Kapur is joining hands with Karisma Kapoor's assertion that the Will produced by Priya Kapur is not genuine.
He also challenged Priya Kapur's assertion that a husband bequeathing his personal assets to his wife is a Kapur family tradition, since Sunjay Kapur's father had also willed his entire property to Rani Kapur.
The two marriages are fundamentally different, he said.
"How can you compare the two? She (Priya Kapur) was married to Sunjay for seven years. This was his third and her second marriage. I was married to my husband for forty years. The distinction doesn't end here. Our Will was registered. The witness to our Will was a person whom my husband had known for 30 years. Here, the witness says he wasn't even associated with the company before 2022," Rani Kapoor has contended.
Gaggar has also argued that since the day of Sunjay Kapur's death, Priya Kapur has been trying to gain control of the assets and the company Sona Comstar.
The court said it will hear the matter next on December 3.
Mr Kapur, 53, died playing polo in London on June 12; the cause of death was listed as a cardiac arrest but there were reports he suffered an anaphylactic shock. HIs mother has claimed that he has been murdered. Since then, a battle has started for the control of the Rs 30,000 crore Sona Group.
The Group has said Ms Kapur is not a shareholder and has not been one since 2019.
In May 2019, a "declaration of significant beneficial ownership" named Sunjay Kapur as the "sole beneficial owner".
