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The bitter dispute over late businessman Sunjay Kapur’s estate has taken another turn. After Sunjay’s children with actor Karisma Kapoor, along with their grandmother Rani Kapur, challenged a will that allegedly left his entire fortune to his wife Priya Sachdev Kapur, his sister Mandhira Kapur Smith has now publicly sided with Karisma and the children.

Mandhira Kapur Smith raises doubts on the will

In an interview with Republic World, Mandhira questioned the authenticity of the will naming Priya as sole inheritor. “I think the biggest question on this will is, knowing the relation of my brother with his children and the love he had for his two children (Samaira Kapoor and Kiaan Kapoor), it is a shocker for anybody who knows them, for my brother to have given everything to one person and not include his children. It is not in his character to do this. We are definitely going to question this, and we are worried about this because he has three kids. There is a will, but we don’t even know what is there in the will, where is all this from, we are in the dark.”

Mandhira added that the family had been denied access to basic information. “We are asking for any information that we can get. My mother has written to a few people in the company asking for the will, autopsy, for everything and it has been told that her email is compromised, so they have not responded to her. So when we found out about this will, it was a shock to us as well because we had no idea that there was a will in the first place.”

Karisma Kapoor’s legal stand

Representing Karisma, senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani clarified that the actor herself was not seeking any personal claim. “Karisma Kapoor doesn’t want anything for herself, the entire aim of this litigation is to secure her children in the manner in which her late ex-husband wanted them to be secure, which is as per a trust deed, which dealt with his assets in India, his corporate assets in India, and by and large his assets abroad, for which there was a will, which was never disclosed and neither has been a subject matter of probate, nor is it registered. So the battle is only about the assets which the will covers and not about the assets which the trust covers.”

On the frequently cited figure of ₹30,000 crore, Jethmalani remarked, “Rs 30,000 crore is a press creation, it is not under the will. We don’t know what the assets under the will are, because they are all Sunjay’s personal assets, and we haven’t had any disclosure in the will or any disclosure from other beneficiary of the will or the executive. So we don’t know what his personal assets consist of or what’s the valuation. Rs 30,000 crore is maybe his both overseas assests and his assets in India. We haven’t done a valuation because, frankly speaking, we can’t make the valuation because we are at a disadvantage of not having the entire data regarding his assets.”

‘Children are not at the mercy of Mrs Kapur’

The lawyer also rejected claims that Sunjay’s children had already been compensated. “If the estate is Rs 30,000 crore and they are only getting Rs 1900 crore… actually, there are only five class one heirs – mother, 3 children and Priya – why is she not disclosing a will, if it’s genuine. The children are not getting whatever they are getting at the mercy of Mrs Kapur. These are assets of Sunjay Kapur, nobody is doing us a favour. Is Priya Sachdev going to forsake the remaining Rs 28,000 crore that goes to her, what kind of a rubbish is this? We are trying to fight for the children’s rightful inheritance.”

On reports of a will dated March 21, which allegedly left all assets to Priya, he added, “We haven’t seen the will so can’t say but now the court has compelled a disclosure. So, we will know what this will is about.”

Questions over Portuguese citizenship

Suspicion has also been raised over Sunjay’s attempts to obtain Portuguese citizenship for Karisma and their children. Jethmalani explained, “That’s one of the suspicious circumstances because there is clear evidence that during the end of May this year, which is supposed to be two months after the will was actually executed, he was trying to get a Portuguese citizenship certainly for his children, and possibly for Karisma Kapoor. She was told that she will have to give up Indian citizenship if she took up Portuguese citizenship and she refused.”

He further said, “But certainly, he was toying with the idea of Portuguese citizenship for his two children for the reason that properties overseas would be exempted from inheritance tax and all 3 of his kids – one from Mrs Priya Kapur and two from Karisma Kapoor – all three of them would be saved from inheritance tax because Portugal doesn’t have an inheritance tax regime. So, if in May 2025, you are trying to create citizenship for your children to avoid inheritance tax of overseas property, it is a little surprising that you had already executed a will in March 2025, in which all the overseas properties are devolved to Mrs Priya Sachdeva and none to the children, so that’s a suspicious circumstance.”

Priya Sachdev’s response

Meanwhile, Priya Sachdev’s lawyer maintained that Sunjay’s children from Karisma have not been left out entirely, saying they had already received assets worth ₹1,900 crore. According to reports, however, Priya continues to control Sunjay’s holdings through the RK Family Trust, leaving the children without direct access to the inheritance.