Karisma Kapoor and Sunjay Kapur’s children allege forged digital trail and manufactured documents amid Rs 30,000 crore inheritance battle

The Delhi High Court on Monday heard explosive claims that the will of late industrialist Sunjay Kapur, scion of the Sona BLW automotive group, was digitally fabricated to divert his Rs30,000-crore estate entirely to his third wife, Priya Kapur.

What began as a private inheritance dispute has erupted into a courtroom drama, with lawyers for Kapur’s children from his second marriage — Samaira and Kiaan Kapur, whose mother is Bollywood actor Karisma Kapoor — alleging a deliberate digital manipulation of files, secret WhatsApp groups, and a forged signature trail. The outcome could redefine not just the balance of one family’s fortune but the boundaries of digital evidence in India’s inheritance law.

“A will born on another man’s computer”

Senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, representing the two children, told the bench that the contested will “was not the product of the deceased’s hand or mind” but a “manufactured document” created and edited on another man’s computer.

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According to Jethmalani, metadata shows that the will originated on the device of one Nitin Sharma, a person with no formal connection to Sunjay Kapur. “Who prepared this will?” he asked. “The file was created and altered on Sharma’s system on March 17, 2025 — the very day Sunjay was in Goa with his son Kiaan. It defies logic that he would rewrite his will on holiday while disinheriting his own children.”

The counsel added that the Word file was converted into a PDF on March 24 at 10:06 a.m., hours before a WhatsApp group named Family Office IC was formed to circulate it among a select circle that included Sharma, Priya Kapur, and Dinesh Agarwal, a director of Aureus Investment Pvt Ltd, part of the Sona BLW promoter group.

“Immediately after the document was shared,” Jethmalani said, “Priya Kapur responded, ‘Okay, thank you!’ — with no surprise or hesitation. It reads like an acknowledgment of a task completed, with no endorsement from the deceased.”

Digital footprints and missing links

Jethmalani argued that the electronic evidence showed multiple, unidentified edits before and after Kapur’s death, pointing to “a secretive and coordinated effort.” The will, he said, surfaced only on the 13th day after the cremation of the deceased.

“There is no explanation for where this document was stored or who had possession of it,” he said. “The entire chain of custody is broken.”

Contradictions and omissions

The will, Jethmalani told the court, contains glaring internal contradictions — listing three bank accounts in one section and six in another, while omitting key properties including Kapur’s New York apartment, a 2010 family trust, and holdings in jewellery, artwork, and precious metals.

“These are not clerical errors,” he said. “A Harvard-educated industrialist of Sunjay Kapur’s precision could not have drafted a document this casual.”

Even more striking, he said, are the incorrect addresses of Samaira and Kiaan and the five inconsistent spellings of his youngest son Azarias’ name. “A meticulous and affectionate father would never commit such mistakes,” he said.

“A will standing on air”

Jethmalani also drew attention to the absence of a schedule of assets, a mandatory annexure detailing the testator’s holdings. The bench itself described the omission as “a serious procedural lapse.”

“Without it,” Jethmalani said, “this will stands on air. It lists no inventory of what the deceased owned, and even the named executor appears unaware of the estate’s scale.”

A matter of character and credibility

To reinforce his case, Jethmalani portrayed Sunjay Kapur as “a devoted father and a perfectionist in both business and life,” citing his education at the University of Buckingham and Harvard Business School. “He never missed Kiaan’s birthdays,” he said. “The idea that such a man would exclude his children is beyond belief.”

Concluding his arguments, Jethmalani declared: “This will should be cast into the dustbin of history. It bears no mark of the deceased’s hand or heart.”

Court reaction and adjournment

 The High Court said the evidence raised “substantial questions” about the will’s origin and internal coherence. The case was adjourned to Tuesday, October 14, for further examination of the digital trail and the physical document’s custody.

Priya Kapur’s counsel maintains that “unimpeachable electronic evidence” supports the will’s authenticity. But for Samaira and Kiaan, the fight has become a broader test of truth — pitting memory against metadata in one of India’s most closely watched inheritance battles.