Priya Kapur defends Sunjay Kapur’s will in Delhi HC, lawyer says errors in spelling and typing don’t invalidate document

Sunjay Kapur estate battle intensifies as Delhi High Court questions will's authenticity

The legal fight over late industrialist Sunjay Kapur’s estate took a sharp turn on Wednesday, with the Delhi High Court questioning the credibility of the Will presented by his widow Priya Kapur.

During an intense hearing, Justice Jyoti Singh asked Priya’s lawyer Rajiv Nayar to explain the inconsistencies surrounding the document, which has become the centrepiece of the inheritance battle between Priya and Sunjay’s children with Karisma, Samaira and Kiaan.

Nayar argued that the children’s claim was flawed because they hadn’t formally challenged the Will in their suit for partition.

As per Live Law, he mentioned, "I disclose the Will on July 30. There were two opportunities to plaintiff. There was a Will reading. It was read out to everyone, including plaintiff. Everybody knew that there is a will of Sunjay Kapur in existence. Suit is filed on September 09, there is no reference or challenge to Will in the plaint...Will is shared with them on September 15. I am only on being aware of the Will. I put the entire Will and execution of my written statement. It is filed on October 13. What is important is at any stage the application is filed to substantially challenge the Will. A replication to atleast rebut the written statement… there is no replication,"

But Justice Singh asked whether the plaintiffs had ever received a copy of the Will before being expected to contest it.

According to Live law, Nayar acknowledged that the existence of the Will was known before September 10 and that copies of it were distributed to everyone even after that date.

"Has anyone disputed the signatures? All that is said is that he couldn't have done it. We are to only see that whether the Will was executed by a person of sound mind in the presence of two attesting witnesses. The challenge is because the Will was given late. Or that he couldn't have executed. There is no challenge to the execution of the Will. Very important aspect which your ladyship will consider. Challenge to the execution of Will has nothing to do with subsequent events, how the Will surfaces. The Will may be in someone's custody, produced late, might be in locker for years, but the route of challenge in probate case…I am assuming it to be a case against me, as per me the pleadings don't call for any investigation into the Will. What is important is challenge to the production of Will. And we are talking about seven weeks," he added.

Also Read: Sunjay Kapur's inheritance dispute: Karisma Kapoor’s children call Priya Sachdev ‘acute gambler’

Nayar added that an affidavit had revealed the Will's execution and disclosure process. The Court does not currently have any material to take a different stance.

The court also took note of delays on both sides, chiding Priya’s legal team for submitting their written statement two weeks late. “You cannot expect a replication at rocket speed,” the honourable judge said.

Meanwhile, Senior Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, representing the Kapur children, continued his attack on the document’s legitimacy, calling it “a careless forgery that insults the intelligence and character of the man it claims to represent.”

He pointed out glaring mistakes — from misspelt names and wrong addresses to the strange use of the feminine term “testatrix” for a male testator. These, he said, were not small errors but “the fingerprints of a forged hand.”

Additionally, it was alleged that their late father's alleged will was a fake, as it contained multiple misspellings of his son's name and an incorrect address for his daughter.

In addition to pointing out mistakes in the Will, it was said that the same were not typical of their father and that the Will is so informal that it denigrates him.