Twist in Sunjay Kapur inheritance war: Mum Rani Kapur moves Delhi High Court, alleges Priya Kapur of diverting family fund

According to the suit, within days of his demise and during the mourning period, she allegedly moved swiftly to secure key board and managerial positions in core Sona Group companies without informing or obtaining consent from the plaintiff, indicating a premeditated attempt to consolidate control

• Rani Kapur claims family fraud over Sona Group assets through disputed trust.
• She seeks Delhi High Court to declare the RK Family Trust void and unlawful
• Kapur claims forged signatures and exclusion from trust benefits

Did our AI summary help?

Rani Kapur, widow of noted industrialist Dr Surinder Kapur and mother of the late Sunjay Kapur, has moved the Delhi High Court alleging that her daughter-in-law, Priya Kapur, along with other family members, orchestrated a scheme to unlawfully take over her entire estate and controlling interests in major Sona Group companies through a fraudulent trust structure.

In an elaborate civil suit, the octogenarian has sought a judicial declaration that the "RK Family Trust", also referred to as the "Rani Kapur Family Trust", allegedly constituted under a trust deed dated October 26, 2017, is unlawful, void and the product of fraud, forgery and undue influence. She has also prayed for ancillary reliefs, including winding up of the trust, restoration of assets, a detailed accounting of funds, and permanent injunctions to restrain the defendants from deriving any benefit from the disputed trust.

According to the pleadings, Rani Kapur is the sole heir and beneficiary of the estate of her late husband, Dr Surinder Kapur, founder and promoter of the Sona Group, who passed away in June 2015. Dr Kapur had executed a Will on February 6, 2013, bequeathing all his movable and immovable assets, including his shareholding in Sona Group entities, exclusively to his wife. The Will was probated in January 2016 without objection from any of their three children, including Sunjay Kapur.

The suit alleges that following a stroke suffered by the plaintiff in September 2017, she became physically frail and emotionally dependent on her son Sunjay Kapur and his third wife, Priya Kapur. Exploiting her vulnerable medical condition, the defendants are alleged to have acted in concert to clandestinely transfer her assets into the RK Family Trust without her free, informed or conscious consent.

Kapur has stated that she had already established two valid and registered trusts in 2016-the Dr SK Family Trust and the MK Family Trust-as part of a transparent estate-planning exercise, in which she remained both settlor and principal beneficiary. Contrary to this arrangement, her assets were allegedly diverted into the RK Family Trust, over which she neither retained control nor was even named as a beneficiary.

Suspicion about the RK Family Trust first arose in 2019, when the plaintiff began hearing references to it. She claims she was repeatedly assured that it was merely an alternative name for her earlier trusts and that she continued to enjoy complete ownership and control over her estate. It was only in 2023, during proceedings related to an intellectual property dispute involving Sona Group companies, that documents surfaced indicating she had purportedly relinquished her rights in favour of her son through a separate trust mechanism.

Despite multiple requests, the plaintiff says she was never given a copy of the trust deed during Sunjay Kapur's lifetime. Following his sudden death in June 2025, she managed to procure photocopies of the deed from third parties in July and November 2025, and alleges that the two versions contain material discrepancies in signatures and official stamps.

The suit refers to a forensic examination which allegedly establishes that the initials attributed to Rani Kapur on the trust deed are forged and do not match her contemporaneous signatures. She further claims that the trust structure was designed to make Sunjay Kapur the sole lifetime beneficiary, with benefits thereafter flowing primarily to Priya Kapur and her children, while completely excluding the plaintiff as well as her daughters and their families.

Serious allegations have also been made against Priya Kapur in relation to steps taken immediately after Sunjay Kapur's death. According to the suit, within days of his demise and during the mourning period, she allegedly moved swiftly to secure key board and managerial positions in core Sona Group companies without informing or obtaining consent from the plaintiff, indicating a premeditated attempt to consolidate control.

Additionally, Rani Kapur has accused the defendants of intentionally severing her access to company information by falsely claiming that her email account had been compromised, and by creating a fictitious email ID in her name to validate trust-related actions without her knowledge or approval.

Through the present proceedings, the plaintiff has sought declarations invalidating the trust deed and all acts undertaken pursuant to it, cancellation of statutory filings made under benami law provisions, dissolution of the RK Family Trust, a complete rendition of accounts from 2017 onwards, restoration of all assets and shareholding to their pre-trust status, and permanent injunctions restraining the defendants from operating trust bank accounts, using digital signatures in her name, creating third-party rights, or holding themselves out as trustees or beneficiaries of the impugned trust.

Describing the episode as one rooted in fraud, forgery and betrayal of trust, Rani Kapur has urged the court to reinstate her estate and family legacy, asserting that the alleged actions amount to a calculated conspiracy to dispossess an elderly widow and super senior citizen of her lifetime assets and lawful inheritance.