Sunjay Kapur’s inheritance battle: Industrialist Sunjay Kapur and former chairman of Sona Comstar faced a tragic death in June, earlier this year. Ex-husband of Bollywood actor Karisma Kapoor, he is survived by their children and wife, Priya Sachdev Kapur. With the alleged Rs 30,000 crore estate at stake, the months-long legal battle has revealed major inconsistencies in his will, according to the senior counsel of the plaintiffs, Mahesh Jethmalani.
Calling Sunjay Kapur a ‘digital ghost’, several fallacies have been noted about the preparation and presentation of his will. In fact, doubts have been raised about the very presence of Kapur, questioning his direct participation. The Delhi High Court hearing on Thursday follows the alleged gaps in custody, procedural lapses, and reported denial of forensic scrutiny of the will from Priya Sachdev. However, several key elements have been reported missing or contradictory by the plaintiffs.
Missing mobile, virtual witnesses
According to the argument made by Senior Advocate Jethmalani, it is uncertain whether Sunjay Kapur was involved in making his will. Furthermore, there is a possibility of a procedural lapse that might make the will void, as per the plaintiffs. Reportedly, there is no mention of when or where the will was signed by the witnesses. More importantly, the likelihood of the witnesses signing the document in the absence of each other further weakens the credibility of the document.
“The mobile phone of late Sunjay Kapur, central to verifying the authenticity of the alleged digital communications, has never been deposited before the Court,” according to Advocate Jethmalani. He also described Sunjay Kapur as a ‘digital ghost’ due to the complete lack of communication regarding the will. Even the WhatsApp chats, being closely scrutinised, show no direct participation from the deceased. Similarly, neither Priya Sachdev nor Dinesh has reportedly certified their phones, the original device containing the chats.
Potential legal fallacies
According to the Thursday HC hearing, there were several legal flaws pointed out by the plaintiffs. Firstly, there was an alleged non‑compliance with the statutory requirement of attestation. It pointed out the possibility that the witness might not have been present while attesting the will. Mandated by law, neither party mentioned that the other was present at the time of execution.
Second, serious doubt has been raised on the chain of custody of the will. The location, custody, and discovery of the document have been reportedly kept as private information till this point in the trial. Third, as FE reported previously, there was an inconsistency in the execution and attestation of the will. As per the text of the document, it claims that the execution took place in Gurugram, but the attesting affidavits reportedly fail to echo this information.
This comes after the alleged exclusion of Sunjay Kapur’s children with Karisma Kapoor, Sameer and Kiaan. Pursuing education outside India, their non-maintenance became a point of contention in previous hearings. While they allegedly own shares worth Rs 2,500 crore, no liquid money was ever received by them. “No contemporaneous note, correspondence or record has been produced to show why Sunjay Kapur would consciously depart from his publicly recorded concern for all his children and structure a Will that appears to prioritise others over his own biological heirs,” read Jethmalani’s argument.