Delhi high court summons Priya Kapur, others on Rani Kapur’s plea to cancel family trust

The Delhi high court on Thursday issued summons to Priya Kapur, wife of the late Sona Comstar chairman Sunjay Kapur, and other respondents on a plea filed by family matriarch Rani Kapur seeking cancellation of the Rani Kapur Family Trust, which holds a substantial stake in the auto components maker.

The court, however, declined to grant any interim relief or any order on the status or operation of the trust that could affect its functioning.

The matter was heard by a single-judge bench of Justice Mini Pushkarna, which directed that the petition be registered as a civil suit, asked all parties to file their replies and listed the case for further hearing in April.

Apart from Priya Kapur, the Delhi High Court has issued summons to 23 other defendants named by Rani Kapur in her plea. These include her grandchildren Samaira Kapur and Kiaan Kapur, children of the late Sunjay Kapur and his former wife, actress Karisma Kapoor.

This is the latest legal development in the ongoing Kapur family dispute, which centres on control and succession of the Sona Group following the death of industrialist Sunjay Kapur on 12 June 2025, when he was chairman of auto-components major Sona BLW Precision Forgings Ltd (Sona Comstar).

In her plea, the 80-year-old Rani Kapur has alleged that the trust was fraudulently created to strip her of her assets and control over the Sona Group. She has accused Sunjay Kapur’s widow, Priya Kapur, of being the “chief mastermind” behind the move and of swiftly taking control of key group companies after her son’s death.

Rani Kapur has claimed that after suffering a stroke in 2017, she was coerced into signing several documents, including blank papers, on the pretext of routine administrative work, which were later misused to transfer her assets into the trust without her informed consent.

The Rani Kapur Family Trust owns 65% of Aureus Investment Pvt. Ltd., which in turn holds about a 28% promoter stake in Sona Comstar. In 2019, the trust had informed the company that its sole beneficiary was Sunjay Kapur.

The dispute forms part of a wider succession battle over Sunjay Kapur’s estimated ₹30,000-crore estate. In September last year, his children from an earlier marriage, Samaira and Kiaan, moved the Delhi High Court challenging a will that allegedly leaves his entire estate to Priya Kapur.

They have sought a one-fifth share each in their father’s personal assets, claiming they were repeatedly denied a copy of the will, which reportedly surfaced at a meeting in July last year but may not be formally registered.

In her petition, Rani Kapur has said she was the sole heir of her late husband, Dr. Surinder Kapur, founder of the Sona Group, under a will probated by the Bombay High Court in 2016.

She alleges that despite being named as a settlor and trustee, the family trust designates Sunjay Kapur, Priya Kapur and their children as beneficiaries, excluding her and her daughters’ branch of the family, contrary to her late husband’s wishes.

Rani Kapur has sought cancellation of the trust, restoration of all assets to their pre-2017 position, a full accounting, and interim directions to freeze the trust’s operations and maintain the status quo in the Sona Group.