Sona Comstar case: The death of Sona Comstar chairman Sunjay Kapur has triggered a bitter dispute within the Kapur family. Mandhira Kapur, Sunjay’s sister, has publicly voiced her anguish at discovering that neither she nor her mother, Rani Kapur, hold any shares in the Rs 30,000-crore auto components giant. “How do you tell your mother, who is 80, who has lost not only her husband but her son as well, that you have nothing today?” Mandhira asked.
She revealed that the family had only recently learnt about the situation and alleged that all their assets had been moved into “a so-called trust”, leaving them sidelined. “We are fighting for our father’s legacy,” she said, while criticising what she described as a lack of respect for her mother, who co-founded the business with her late husband, Surinder Kapur.
Questions over cause of death
Mandhira also raised concerns about her brother’s passing. Sunjay Kapur died suddenly in the UK on June 12, with initial reports attributing the cause to a bee sting. However, she stated that the post-mortem report, which she obtained only through the media, did not support that conclusion. “We were not given the post-mortem report… I got it through the media,” she explained.
The family’s suspicions have further fuelled the sense of grievance, with Rani Kapur describing the circumstances as “highly suspicious and unexplained” in her own letter to the company’s board.
‘Treated like strangers’
In an emotional account, Mandhira accused the company of marginalising her family. “We’re being treated like strangers. My mother even requested them to put our name on [the records]. They said it was done by Sona. It’s in bad taste,” she said.
She added that her mother had been asked to apologise publicly for requesting a board meeting be delayed. “For my mother, Sona is another child… I just think that much respect should have been given. She’s not a stranger,” Mandhira noted.
Company’s response and boardroom moves
Sona Comstar has firmly rejected the Kapur family’s claims. In a statement, the Gurugram-based firm clarified that its records show Rani Kapur has not held any shares since at least 2019. The promoter entity, Aureus Investments Private Limited (AIPL), currently holds 28.02 per cent of shares and had declared Sunjay Kapur as the sole beneficial owner of the RK Family Trust, which owns a significant stake in AIPL.
In a move that intensified the family feud, the company appointed Sunjay Kapur’s wife, Priya Sachdev Kapur, as Non-Executive Director on 25 July, based on a nomination from AIPL. Just two days earlier, the board had unanimously appointed independent director Jeffrey Mark Overly as chairman. Overly, who joined the board in 2021, has over four decades of experience at firms including Blackstone Group, Kohler Company and General Motors.
Meanwhile, the dispute has shaken investor confidence. Sona Comstar’s stock fell 4.28 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Friday as reports of the power struggle and contested legacy emerged.