- The Delhi High Court criticised the family feud over a Rs 30,000 crore fortune after Sunjay Kapur's death
- Rani Kapur alleged Priya Kapur used a fraudulent trust to unlawfully divert family wealth
- Rani Kapur sought to declare the RK Family Trust illegal and demanded its dissolution and asset restitution
The Delhi High Court took a dim view Tuesday afternoon of increasingly sordid legal squabbles between Rani Kapur, the mother of businessman Sunjay Kapur, and Priya Kapur, his third wife, as they jostle for control of Rs 30,000 crore fortune left behind after his death in June last year.
Criticising the 'washing of dirty linen in public', the court lamented the 'very sorry state of affairs' after Rani Kapur alleged Priya Kapur used a fraudulent trust to unlawfully divert the wealth.
"God blessed the family with significant wealth that should be enjoyed by everyone," the court said, urging Rani Kapur, Priya Kapur, and others, including Sunjay Kapur's second wife – actor Karisma Kapoor and her children, son Kiaan and daughter Samaira – to consider mediation.
The court's observations came as it heard a civil suit filed by Rani Kapur targeting the RK Family Trust, i.e., the Rani Kapur Family Trust, that was supposedly created in October 2017.
Rani Kapur – who said last year that she had been coerced into signing documents while grieving her son's death – wanted the trust to be declared "illegal, void, and the result of fraud, forgery, and undue influence". She also sought consequential reliefs, including dissolution of the trust and a detailed statement of its accounts, to be followed by restitution of assets.
"It is submitted that, by means of a complex web of illegal transactions undertaken in an unfortunate collusion with the plaintiff's (i.e., Rani Kapur) son, Sunjay Kapur, all the plaintiff's assets vest in one fraudulent Trust – titled RK Family Trust – without her knowledge."
"The entire fraud perpetrated upon the plaintiff has only now been discovered post the death of her son, who also passed away under mysterious circumstances," the suit had claimed.
Sunjay Kapur, 53, died playing polo in London on June 12 last year.
The cause of death was listed as a cardiac arrest, but there were reports that he suffered an anaphylactic shock after a bee flew into his mouth. His mother, however, hinted darkly at a "transnational conspiracy" leading to the "murder" of her son.
According to the suit, Rani Kapur is the sole beneficiary and legatee of the estate of her husband Surinder Kapur, founder and promoter of the Sona Group, who died in June 2015.
Surinder Kapur's will was probated in January 2016 without objection by Sunjay Kapur.
However, the suit alleges that after suffering a stroke in September 2017, Rani Kapur became physically and emotionally dependent on her son and his third wife, who allegedly took advantage of this to secretly divert her assets into the RK Family Trust without her consent.
