Supreme Court Appoints Ex-CJI DY Chandrachud As Mediator In Rani Kapur-Priya Kapur Dispute Over Sunjay Kapur's Estate

After a nudge from the Supreme Court, late industrialist Sunjay Kapur's mother Rani Kapur and widow Priya Kapur today agreed for mediation of their dispute in relation to the Rani Kapur Family Estate. Former Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud will be mediating the dispute between the parties.

A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and Ujjal Bhuyan passed an order referring the parties to mediation after they gave mutual consent for the same. The bench advised the parties to explore mediation with an open mind and requested that they refrain from making statements in public and/or go on social media.

"It's a family dispute, let it be confined among the family only. It should not be a source of entertainment", said Justice Pardiwala. The remark came in response to a request by Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, for Priya Kapur, that Rani Kapur be asked to not "wash dirty linen" on national TV.

The order recorded as follows:

"We make it clear that this mediation is confined only so far as the family members are concerned. We make one request to all parties before us that they may not make any statement in public and may not go on social media. This being a family affair, the endeavor on their part should be to get the disputes resolved at the earliest and put an end to the entire matter. We firmly believe that all parties should participate in the mediation proceedings with an open mind. It will be in the interest of one and all if they are able to resolve the entire matter before the ld. Mediator. Otherwise, this is going to be a long drawn litigation."

The bench said that it will await a preliminary report from Justice Chandrachud before proceeding further.

To recap, Rani Kapur has alleged that the “RK Family Trust/Rani Kapur Family Trust” is fraudulent, null and void, and that her entire estate and family legacy were illegally diverted into the said trust without her knowledge or consent. During an earlier hearing, the Court had suggested mediation, while remarking that a protracted litigation at the age of 80 (Rani Kapur) will be of no consequence.

Rani Kapur has also filed a suit before the Delhi High Court, claiming that she is the sole beneficiary and legatee of the estate of her late husband, Dr. Surinder Kapur, promoter of the Sona Group of Companies. Dr. Kapur passed away in June 2015, leaving behind a Will dated February 6, 2013, under which his entire estate, including shareholding in various Sona Group companies, devolved upon her.

As per the suit, the Will was duly probated by the Bombay High Court in January 2016, after all three of her children gave their no-objection .

The suit alleges that despite this, her assets were siphoned off over several years through a “complex web of illegal transactions” and parked into the RK Family Trust, purportedly created in or around October 2017, without her consent.

Rani Kapur has claimed that immediately after Sunjay Kapur's demise, her daughter-in-law took swift steps to assume control over key Sona Group companies, including securing appointments as director and managing director within days of the funeral rites, without informing or consulting her.

Terming the RK Family Trust as “illegal, fraudulent and unregistered”, Rani Kapur has sought restoration of her entire estate and legacy as it existed prior to the creation of the impugned trust.

Appearance: Senior Advocates Shyam Divan and Vaibhav Gaggar (for Rani Kapur); Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi (for Priya Kapur); Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal (for Priya Kapur's son Azarias), Mahesh Jethmalani (for Karishma Kapoor's children), Madhavi Divan, Gopal Jain (for Raghuvanshi Investment Pvt. Ltd.), Navin Kohli and Navin Pahwa (for other respondents)

Case Title: RANI KAPUR Versus PRIYA SACHDEV KAPUR AND ORS., SLP(C) No. 13943-13945/2026