A widow of Indian billionaire and friend of Prince William is embroiled in a bitter inheritance row with her in-laws after her husband ‘swallowed a bee’ and died.
Sunjay Kapur, 53, collapsed in front of horrified teammates during a game at Guards Polo Club in Windsor on June 12.
Indian-born Mr Kapur is thought to have been stung in the mouth by a bee, which caused an allergic reaction and then a fatal heart attack.
The businessman was the heir to a car parts giant founded by his father and worth £2.7billion – Sona Comstar.
His shock death has since plunged the automotive empire – which is one of India‘s most highly-esteemed – into a bitter succession battle.
Now his third wife Priya Sachdev is in a bitter dispute with his mother Rani Kapur, who is backed by daughters Mandhira Kapur Smith and Superna Kapur Motwane.
Ms Kapur, 80, who was formerly a chairwoman of the company, has claimed she was coerced into giving up control of her son’s firm days after his death.
In a letter penned to the board on July 24, she also questioned the circumstances of her son’s death.
She also accused those within the firm of exploiting the family’s grief to ‘wrestle control’ of the Sona Comstar.
Sunjay Kapur, 53, collapsed in front of horrified teammates during a game at Guards Polo Club in Windsor on June 12
His third wife Priya Sachdev Kapur (pictured, right), is in a bitter inheritance feud with his sisters and mother
Sunjay Kapur, 53, pictured with his mother Rani Kapur, who claims she was coerced into giving up control of her son’s firm days after his death
Her daughter Mandhira echoed the same accusation to the Times Now channel, claiming her mother was in a room ‘with a bunch of people’.
‘I was banging on the door outside trying to open it. My mother later said “I don’t know what I’ve signed”,’ she said.
Ms Sandchev was named a non-executive director at the company’s annual general meeting on July 25 – the day after Ms Kapur’s letter was reportedly delivered to the board.
The meeting had also gone ahead despite the 80-year-old’s objections and request to delay the meeting
In her letter, which was also sent to India’s market regulator, Ms Kapur claimed her late husband, who died in 2015, made her the sole beneficiary of his estate as well as majority shareholder of the Sona Group.
The company said Ms Kapur had not been a shareholder for six years and said she was not majority shareholder of the group.
She and her two daughters now claim they have been ‘excluded’ from the family company after playing a key role in its growth.
‘My mother built Sona with my father. To tell her now — she’s 80 — that she has nothing to do with the company she built is absurd,’ Kapur Smith told The Times.
Mr Kapur’s widow is yet to speak publicly regarding the claims made by her late husband’s family, but a family pal, said she had been left appalled.
An insider close to the widow, who spoke highly of Mr Kapur (Pictured in 2013), describing him as ‘great fun to be with’, said they felt for Ms Sachdev amid the ‘ghastly power struggle’
Dubbing it a ‘s*** show’, and a ‘battle for money’, a source said: ‘By making a public spectacle of this feud, [the sisters] hope to force Priya’s hand into settling.’
An insider close to the widow, who spoke highly of Mr Kapur, describing him as ‘great fun to be with’, said they felt for Ms Sachdev amid the ‘ghastly power struggle’
His sister Ms Kapur Smith refuted the claims, saying the row was about ‘legacy, about honesty, the truth and integrity and what the family stands for’
Sona Comstar has denied any wrongdoing, saying there were no documents sent or signed by Rani Kapur. The Daily Mail has approached Sona Comstar for comment.
It said it had requested the 80-year-old cease sharing ‘false, malicious and damaging’ statements’ via a legal notice.
It comes as Ms Sachdev’s office shared the coroner’s report which confirmed that her husband had died of natural causes following his mother’s previous claims.
The report said he died from ventricular hypertrophy and ischaemic heart disease and the investigation was closed.
Ms Kapur wrote to the UK authorities calling for an investigation into his death, which was rejected.
It comes as Ms Sachdev’s office shared the coroner’s report which confirmed that her husband had died of natural causes following his mother’s previous claims (Pictured: Mr Kapur in 2014)
The University of Buckingham graduate married Priya Sachdev Kapur, a former model and entrepreneur with whom he had a son named Azarias Kapur born in 2018.
Mr Kapur died as his Aureus team were playing in a semi-final match in the Cartier Queen’s Cup against Sujan Indian Tigers.
The match started at 3pm on Tuesday, June 12 at the club’s Smith’s Lawn grounds.
The club is closely associated with the Royal family. Prince Philip was the club’s president from the time it was founded in January 1955 until his death in April 2021 – holding the role for 66 years. King Charles became the club’s new president last year.
In a statement the club said its chairman Lieutenant Colonel Sean O’Dwyer along with ‘directors and members’ were ‘shocked to learn that Sunjay Kapur, owner of the Aureus polo team, died after becoming unwell when playing in a match at Smith’s Lawn’.
The statement added: ‘The club sends its deepest condolences to his widow, Priya Sachdev, his children, the wider Kapur family and his Aureus team-mates.’
