The Delhi High Court on Thursday ordered late businessman Sanjay Kapoor’s widow, Priya Kapoor, to preserve the assets he owned after his children with actor Karisma Kapoor, Samira and Kian, pointed out suspicious circumstances regarding the will under which he allegedly left his entire estate to their stepmother.
A bench of Justice Jyoti Singh noted that the validity of the will will be determined after the trial, which is likely to take time, and pending the ruling, assets must be preserved and not dissipated. She said that if the assets are exhausted and Priya Kapoor ultimately fails to prove the validity of the will, the children, along with their grandmother Rani Kapoor, will be deprived of their claimed shares.
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The court restrained Priya Kapoor from disposing of, transferring, pledging or otherwise dealing in shares of three Indian companies, withdrawing provident fund amounts, disposing of personal works of art, or withdrawing money from three accounts in two Indian banks, except to fulfill obligations to the children under the divorce decree. It prohibited it from operating foreign bank accounts and from selling, transferring or otherwise dealing with cryptocurrency assets.
The court did not issue any order regarding immovable property abroad. It said that the plaintiffs had filed a prima facie case regarding the assets in question that needed to be protected and preserved, pending disposition of the case. A detailed copy of the ruling is awaited.
The ruling was issued in Samira and Kian’s lawsuit seeking to obtain one-fifth of their father’s property. The lawsuit said that Priya Kapoor first wrote the will at a family meeting on July 30, without any prior disclosure of its existence.
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They sought this share, alleging that Priya Kapoor, in conspiracy with Nitin Sharma and Dinesh Agarwal, the two notary witnesses, fabricated the document under “suspicious circumstances”. In the courtroom, the petitioners accused Priya Kapoor of “forging” the will and being a “skillful gambler.”
They claimed that the will was amended when Sanjay Kapoor was in Goa with his son Kian. The petitioners alleged that the document was riddled with “glaring errors”, pointing out that the name of Priya Kapoor’s son, Azarius, was misspelled four times, the addresses given were incorrect, the required timeline was missing, and even a feminine pronoun was used to refer to Sanjay Kapoor in the will.
Priya Kapoor confirmed that leaving the entire property to the wife is a “healthy” tradition in the Kapoor family. She added that Sanjay Kapoor’s father had left his entire property to his wife Rani Kapoor.
Azayros told the court that Karisma Kapoor’s children moved the court to obtain a share in their father’s estate only after securing their interests under the family guardianship.
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The Supreme Court on Monday encouraged parties to explore mediation in the ongoing inheritance dispute. It issued notice on Rani Kapoor’s plea seeking protection of estate and restraint over alleged interference in assets of Sona Group. A bench of Justices J.P. Pardiwala and Vijay Bishnoi believe that a protracted legal battle, especially one involving a litigant in his 80s, would serve little purpose.
Sanjay Kapoor, chairman of Sona Comstar, died of cardiac arrest while playing polo in London on June 12 last year. He was married first to designer Nandita Mahtani, and later to actress Karisma Kapoor. After the divorce, he married model and businesswoman Priya Kapoor in 2017.
