New Delhi, November 15: Sunjay Kapur, former chairman of Sona Comstar, and an American citizen with a highly public business profile. He first married Nandini Mehtani, a fashion designer. That marriage ended before he married Karisma Kapoor, with whom he had two children, Samaira and Kiaan. Their relationship went through a long legal fight and formally ended in 2016.
In 2017, Sunjay married his third wife, Priya Sachdev Kapur and they have a son together called Azarias. On 12 June 2025, Sunjay was in London in a polo match, early reports claimed he died after a bee sting triggered an anaphylactic shock. That report was claimed false when the postmortem report stated the cause of death as a heart attack. This raised a lot of suspicion because Sunjay was athletic and never had problems concerning his health . Rani Kapur said that she can’t understand how he died and didn’t receive any reliable and rational explanation.
His sister, Mandhira Kapur Smith who appeared repeatedly in the media. She said the family never received the postmortem report from authorities despite repeated emails. Instead, they saw it through the media, which she described as unacceptable. Mandira also stated that the conflict was not about the money but about the legacy their father built.
Records show that Priya was appointed as an additional non-executive director on 23 June 2025 and that she had earlier joined Sona Comstar’s board as a director on 30 June 2017 ,the same day Rani ceased to be a director. Rani’s shares, held through the RK Family Trust, appear to have been reduced in influence, leaving her with no effective position in the company.
The background of the corporate dispute traces back to 2017–2019, when Rani left the board of Aureus Investment and transferred her shareholding to a trustee. Aureus held roughly 28% of Sona Comstar. A spokesperson later said the transfer was voluntary, and that Sunjay had led the turnaround of the company from debt to profitability.
The legal conflict expanded when Karisma’s children filed a lawsuit in the Delhi High Court on 9 September 2025. They are contesting Sunjay’s will, valued at more than ₹30,000 crore. Their advocate, Mahesh Jethmalani, argued that Sunjay was obligated to pay expenses of their children after the 2016 separation.
Advocate Rajeev Nair, representing Priya Sachdev Kapur , said every expense had already been fulfilled and that Karisma and the children had received ₹1,900 crore from a family trust. He dismissed Samaira’s allegation of unpaid US university fees as an attempt to gain media attention.
Justice Jyoti Singh called the fee claim “melodramatic,” stated that issues of this scale should not reach the court, and said she did not want to spend more than thirty seconds on such a point. The primary allegation in the suit is that Priya forged Sunjay’s will for her own benefit.
Rani Kapur publicly challenged the company’s management, claiming she was denied access to financial information and excluded from decisions. She said her husband’s 2015 will made her the sole beneficiary of his estate. By 2019, the RK Family Trust listed Sanjay as the only beneficiary, and later grew to hold more than 65% of Aureus, the promoter entity of Sona Comstar. This shift left Rani without any standing in the company. She also said she was coerced into signing documents while grieving her son , while her daughter Mandira Kapur and her aunt were locked outside. Sona Comstar demanded that she retract her allegations, stating she had no locus standi and accusing her of spreading misinformation that harmed shareholders.Legal experts note that Rani can approach the court if she was coerced into signing documents that changed ownership, trust control, or board positions. They also clarify that Karisma Kapoor herself is not involved in inheritance disputes; only Samaira and Kiaan are legal heirs.
The chain of events exposes a tangled conflict – the Kapur family cut out of the company and its wealth, children losing their father into an unresolved conspiracy , Priya accused of reshaping the will while securing power inside Sona Comstar, and Karisma aligned with the Kapurs as they fight to reclaim both the name and the estate.
Also Read | Kapoor Children Got ₹1,900 Cr, Financial Needs Met: Advocate
