The sudden death of an Indian billionaire has triggered a bitter succession battle at one of the country’s largest car companies – with questions asked about the tragedy
The death of Prince William’s polo pal, killed by a bee sting, has sparked a bitter £2.7billion inheritance row as the family believes his death was “highly suspicious”.
Sunjay Kapur, 53, collapsed and died of a heart attack on June 12 while playing polo in Surrey. Reports suggest he swallowed a bee moments before. The Delhi-born businessman was heir to Sona Comstar, an automotive components empire founded by his father.
A fixture in India’s high society, Kapur was known for his connections to British royalty and the upper echelons of the polo world. His private life was as high-profile as his career. He was married three times – first to designer Nandita Mahani, then Bollywood star Karisma Kapoor, and finally to former model Priya Sachdev in 2017.
Following his death, his family’s company has become the focus of an acrimonious succession battle. The fight pits his mother, Rani Kapur, against Sona Comstar’s board of directors in a contest for control of the business. In a letter to the board dated 24 July, Mrs Kapur alleged that her son died in “highly suspicious and unexplained circumstances.” The claim came just a month after the board unanimously appointed a new chairman on 23 June.
She accused company figures of exploiting the family’s grief to “wrest control and usurp the family legacy,” and claimed she was “forced to sign documents behind locked doors” while in a state of emotional distress.
Her letter, also sent to India’s market regulator, alleged she had been locked out of her bank accounts and had not approved any new representatives for the Kapur family. She further claimed that her late husband – Kapur’s father, who died in 2015 – had named her sole beneficiary of his estate and made her the majority shareholder in the Sona Group.
The company disputed her claims in a regulatory filing, insisting Mrs Kapur had not been a shareholder since at least 2019, directly contradicting her assertion of majority ownership through her late husband’s will.
Last week, Priya Sachdev’s office released the official Surrey coroner’s report, which confirmed that Kapur had died of natural causes. The findings stated that he suffered from ventricular hypertrophy and ischaemic heart disease, and the coroner closed the investigation.
The release came after Mrs Kapur had written to British authorities demanding an inquiry into her son’s death. The coroner’s conclusion directly contradicted her assertion that the circumstances were suspicious.
The family feud has widened to include Kapur’s sister, Mandhira, who had been estranged from her brother for four years. In an Instagram post, she published a photograph with her mother and brother, pledging to “protect what you would have wanted, and what Dad dreamed.”
Mrs Kapur maintains there is a coordinated effort to strip the founding family of control. “It quite clearly reinforces what she’s been saying, that her entire legacy is being usurped and no one is willing to look into the cause of death,” said senior advocate Vaibhav Gaggar, representing Mrs Kapur. “It may all be very well interlinked and she has quite unequivocally said there is a conspiracy behind her son’s death.”
Sona Comstar’s shareholding is split between the public, which owns 72 per cent, and corporate promoter Aureus Investments Private Limited, which controls the remaining 28 per cent. The dispute comes against a backdrop of frequent succession crises in Indian family businesses. Around 90 per cent of listed companies in the country are family-controlled, but only 63 per cent have formal succession plans, according to PwC.
One of India’s most infamous corporate feuds erupted in 2002 when Dhirubhai Ambani, founder of the Reliance empire, died without leaving a will. His sons Mukesh and Anil were plunged into a public and protracted battle for control of the business, with their mother, Kokilaben, eventually brokering a settlement.
For the Kapurs, the death of Sunjay has not only left a vacuum at the head of the business, but also exposed deep fractures in a family once united around one of India’s most successful industrial legacies.