Rani Kapur approaches Delhi HC, alleges daughter-in-law Priya Kapur used ''fraudulent'' trust to divert family estate

In a detailed civil suit, Kapur, an octogenarian and super senior citizen, has sought a declaration that the "RK Family Trust / Rani Kapur Family Trust", purportedly created through a trust deed dated October 26, 2017, is illegal, void, and the result of fraud, forgery and undue influence.

She has also sought consequential reliefs, including dissolution of the trust, restitution of assets, rendition of accounts, and permanent injunctions restraining the defendants from acting upon or benefiting from the impugned trust.

According to the plaint, Rani Kapur is the sole beneficiary and legatee of the entire 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 dated February 6, 2013, bequeathing all his movable and immovable assets, including his shareholding in Sona Group companies, exclusively to his wife. The Will was duly probated in January 2016 without any objection from their three children, including Sunjay Kapur.

The suit alleges that after suffering a stroke in September 2017, the plaintiff became physically and emotionally dependent on her son Sunjay Kapur and his third wife, Priya Kapur.

Taking advantage of her vulnerable medical condition, the defendants are alleged to have acted in concert to secretly divert her assets into the RK Family Trust without her free, informed, or conscious consent.

Kapur states that she had already created 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, under which she remained the settlor and principal beneficiary. Contrary to this arrangement, her assets were allegedly siphoned into the RK Family Trust, in which she was neither named as a beneficiary nor retained any control.

Doubts regarding the existence of the RK Family Trust first surfaced in 2019 when the plaintiff began hearing references to it. She claims she was repeatedly misled into believing that it was merely another name for her earlier trusts and that she continued to retain full ownership and control over her estate.

It was only in 2023, during proceedings connected to an intellectual property dispute involving Sona Group entities, that documents emerged suggesting she had divested her rights in favour of her son through a separate trust.

Despite repeated requests, the plaintiff states, she was never provided a copy of the trust deed during Sunjay Kapur''s lifetime. Following his sudden death in June 2025, Kapur managed to obtain photocopies of the trust deed from third-party sources in July and November 2025. She alleges that the two versions materially differ in signatures and stamps.

A forensic examination cited in the suit allegedly reveals that the initials attributed to Rani Kapur on the trust deed are forged and do not tally with her contemporaneous signatures. The plaintiff further claims that under the impugned trust structure, Sunjay Kapur was the sole lifetime beneficiary, with benefits thereafter flowing largely to Priya Kapur and her children, completely excluding the plaintiff as well as her daughters and their families.

Serious allegations have also been levelled against Priya Kapur concerning actions taken immediately after Sunjay Kapur''s demise. The suit alleges that within days of his death, and during the period of mourning, she moved swiftly to secure key managerial and board-level positions in core Sona Group companies without any notice to or consent from the plaintiff, suggesting a pre-planned effort to consolidate control.

Additionally, the plaintiff has accused the defendants of deliberately cutting off her access to company information by falsely claiming her email account had been compromised and by creating a fictitious email ID in her name to validate trust-related actions without her knowledge.

Through the present suit, Rani Kapur has sought declarations nullifying the trust deed and all actions taken pursuant to it, cancellation of statutory filings made under the benami law regime, dissolution of the RK Family Trust, a full rendition of accounts since 2017, restitution of all assets and shareholding to their pre-trust position, and multiple permanent injunctions restraining the defendants from operating trust bank accounts, exercising digital signatures in her name, creating third-party rights, or representing themselves as trustees or beneficiaries of the impugned trust.

Terming the entire episode as one founded on fraud, forgery, and abuse of trust, Kapur has urged the court to restore her estate and family legacy, contending that the actions complained of amount to a calculated conspiracy to dispossess an elderly widow and super senior citizen of her lifetime assets and inheritance. (ANI)