Delhi High Court seeks stand of Rani Kapur on perjury plea by Priya Kapur

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought the stand of Rani Kapur, the mother of late industrialist Sunjay Kapur, on a plea by her daughter-in-law Priya Kapur alleging that the mother-in-law's lawsuit against the family trust was based on false statements.

Justice Mini Pushkarna issued notice to Rani Kapur on an application by Priya Kapur seeking initiation of action against her for perjury under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and asked her to file her reply.

The application, filed in the ongoing proceedings on the lawsuit, alleged there are "unimpeachable documents", like affidavits and photographs, to show that Rani Kapur made a "deliberate and false statement on oath" that she did not sign the RK Family Trust Deed or read its contents.

The court also issued notice to Rani Kapur on Priya's plea seeking dismissal of the lawsuit for concealing and suppressing material.

It alleged that there was gross abuse of process by the plaintiff, which amounted to fraud upon the court.

In her lawsuit against her daughter-in-law, Priya Kapur, and others, Rani Kapur has sought that their purported family trust be declared "null and void". She has alleged that the trust, which was constituted in her name in October 2017, was a product of "forged, fabricated and fraudulent" documents and she had been wrongly divested of all her rights, assets and legacy.

The 80-year-old Rani Kapur has sought a direction to permanently restrain the defendants - her daughter-in-law Priya Kapur and others, including grandchildren, from utilising or acting in furtherance of the "RK Family Trust" in any manner whatsoever.

In her lawsuit, Rani Kapur said that she was the sole beneficiary of the entire estate of her late husband Surinder Kapur, who was the promoter of various businesses, including the 'Sona Group of Companies', and a "systematic fraud" was committed on her when the assets were transferred to the "RK Family Trust".

Till the time of his demise, Sunjay never confirmed to Rani Kapur that she had actually been divested of all her rights, assets and legacy and never provided a copy of the purported RK Family Trust to her, the plea claimed.

"By means of a complex web of illegal transactions undertaken by the defendant Nos. 1 to 9 (Priya Kapur and others) in an unfortunate collusion with the plaintiff's now deceased son, late Sunjay Kapur, all the plaintiff's assets vest in one fraudulent trust titled - RK Family Trust, without her knowledge," the lawsuit said.

Sunjay Kapur passed away on June 12 after collapsing during a polo match in England. He reportedly suffered a sudden cardiac arrest.

A plea by Karisma Kapoor's two children challenging the authenticity of the purported will of their late father is also pending in the high court, with the kids accusing his wife Priya Kapur of being "greedy".

On February 10, the court had asked the mother, wife and family members of late Sunjay Kapur to "peacefully" resolve their differences and not let the "blessing" of "financial wealth" turn into a "curse".

The case will be heard next in March.