The feud brewing within the Kapur family-owned Sona Group – an empire worth Rs 30,000 crore – took a sharp turn Friday evening after the flagship company, Sona BLW Precision Forgings Ltd, said Rani Kapur, the former Chairman Sunjay Kapur‘s mother, is not a shareholder, and has not been since 2019.
Hours earlier Ms Kapur wrote to the board, identifying herself as a majority shareholder and demanding an Annual General Meeting scheduled for this afternoon be postponed.
She said she had been coerced into signing documents and questioned the decision to appoint “certain people (i.e., Priya Sachdev Kapur, her daughter-in-law)” who claimed to speak for the family.
The company responded with a market filing that said in May 2019 a “declaration of significant beneficial ownership” was received that identified Sunjay Kapur as the “sole beneficial owner…”.
As a result, the company said, Ms Kapur had “not been a shareholder since 2019”.
On the appointment of Priya Sachdev Kapur as a non-executive director, the filing said her name had been proposed and her appointment “duly reviewed… and approved”.
And on Ms Kapur’s claim about being “forced to sign documents behind locked doors”, the board stressed that no documents had been signed or obtained from her since Mr Kapur’s death.
The family row broke after an email from Rani Kapur late Thursday that requested the deferment of the AGM. The board said it took legal advice on how to proceed “out of respect” for Ms Kapur.
READ | Family Drama, Power Play After Businessman Sunjay Kapur’s Death
“Based on the legal counsel and the fact Rani Kapur is not a shareholder of the Company, the Company concluded that it could not defer the AGM,” the exchange filing said.
Earlier Ms Kapur had accused her ‘enemies’ of trying to usurp her family’s legacy while she mourned the death of her son. She said she had been informed of an item on the AGM agenda, i.e., “the passing of a resolution to appoint certain Director(s) as being the representative of the Kapur family”.
That ‘representative’ was Priya Sachdev Kapur.
Ms Kapur made it very clear that she had not been consulted in this decision.
FULL LETTER | ”Gross Illegalities’ In Company’: Rani Kapur, Sunjay Kapur’s Mother
“For the record, I state I have not given any consent or officially nominated any person to come on the board of the company, or any other Sona Group company, after my son’s demise, or given any consent to any person to represent me in any capacity before any Sona Group company.”
In the letter, which builds up to a Bollywood-style family drama, Ms Kapur also claims information from “well-wishers” had highlighted “gross illegalities” and left her “disturbed”.
“At this stage I do not wish to dilate any further on various gross illegalities… except to state, in no uncertain terms, that it is imperative that no decisions are taken without my consent,” she said.
Sunjay Kapur, a prominent busines leader in the automotive space, was earlier married to Bollywood actor Karishma Kapoor. The two separated in 2016 and he married model Priya Sachdev in 2017.
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