Sunjay Kapur’s will: Wife Priya tells HC inheritance by spouse is family practice

This comes amid ongoing legal dispute over Sunjay Kapur’s will, with Samaira and Kiaan — his children with film actor Karisma Kapoor — seeking one-fifth share each from their father’s estate

New Delhi: Late businessman Sunjay Kapur’s wife, Priya Kapur, told the Delhi high court on Thursday that leaving one’s entire estate to the wife is a “healthy” tradition in the Kapur family, adding that Sunjay’s father had also bequeathed his entire estate to his wife, Rani Kapur.

The submissions were made in the suit filed by Samaira and Kiaan seeking a one-fifth share each from their father’s estate.

This comes amid the ongoing legal dispute over Sunjay Kapur’s will, with Samaira and Kiaan — his children with film actor Karisma Kapoor — seeking a one-fifth share each from their father’s estate.

Priya’s lawyer, Rajiv Nayyar, submitted before a bench of justice Jyoti Singh that Sunjay’s decision to make his client the “sole beneficiary” raised no suspicion regarding the will’s authenticity. Nayyar pointed out that both Priya and Sunjay had executed their wills on the same day.

“I have also indicated that there is nothing suspicious about a husband bequeathing his assets to his wife, and so is the case in my father-in-law’s will. This is a healthy tradition. Both (Samaira and Kiaan) have received beneficial interest to the tune of ₹2,000 crore from the trust,” Nayyar said in his submission.

The senior counsel further said that the will, after Sunjay’s death, did not surface under suspicious circumstances, saying it was kept in a locker jointly owned by Sunjay and Priya and was handed over by Priya to the will’s executor, Shradha Suri Marwah, on June 24.

“The Will was in the custody of the joint locker of Sunjay & Priya Kapur. There are no suspicious circumstances regarding the manner in which the will originated. The will was in my (Priya) custody and I (Priya) handed it over to Shradha Suri on 24/6/2025,” Nayyar added.

The submissions were made in the suit filed by Samaira and Kiaan seeking a one-fifth share each from their father’s estate. Samaira and Kiaan have accused Priya Kapur of “forging” his will and being an “acute gambler”.

Sunjay, who was the chairperson of Sona Comstar, died of cardiac arrest while playing polo in London on June 12 this year. He was earlier married to designer Nandita Mahtani and later to actor Karisma Kapoor, with whom he has two children — Samaira and Kiaan. After their divorce in 2016, he married model-actor and businesswoman Priya in 2017, with whom he had a son, Azarius.

In their suit filed on September 9, Samaira and Kiaan claimed that Priya produced the will for the first time at a family meeting on July 30, without any prior disclosure of its existence. They sought their share, alleging that Priya, in conspiracy with Nitin Sharma and Dinesh Agarwal, the attesting witnesses, had fabricated the document under “suspicious circumstances”.

They claimed the will was modified when Sunjay was in Goa with his son Kiaan. They further contended that the document was filled with “glaring errors,” pointing out that Azarius’s name had been misspelled four times, the addresses mentioned were incorrect, the required schedule was missing, and even a feminine pronoun had been used to refer to Sunjay in the will.

Regarding the children’s allegations of the will being modified when Sunjay was in Goa, Nayyar clarified that Sunjay had suggested some changes to the will on February 10, which were incorporated while he was in Goa on March 17. “With regards to the allegations of silence as to what transpired between February 10 till March 17, the alleged date of modification of the will — on February 10, will print out was shown to Sunjay who suggested the changes and the changes were made on March 17. The will is not executed on March 17, and it’s the date of last modification,” he added.

Addressing the use of feminine pronouns like “her” and “testatrix” in Sunjay’s will, Nayyar explained that the will’s template had been taken from Rani’s will, and argued that the misspelling of Azarius’s name could not, by itself, serve as a basis to invalidate the document. “The template has been imported from my mother-in-law (Rani Kapur’s) will,” Nayyar added.

The hearing will continue on Friday, when Nayyar is expected to conclude his submissions.