Dispute over Sona Comstar shows festering sibling row

Mandhira and the late Sunjay Kapur have earlier battled over family assets before courts, Sebi

- Ayaan Kartik & Nehal Chaliawala

Fresh questions by the late Sunjay Kapur's sister Mandhira Kapur over the transfer of ownership of the RK Family Trust, which controls the promoter entity of listed auto components major Sona Comstar, are not the first time that a dispute has emerged within the Kapur family over the division of the estate built by the late Surinder Kapur, according to documents seen by Mint.

In the last one week, Mandhira has questioned the role of RK Family Trust in taking away the control on the shareholding of Aureus Investment Private Ltd—a key promoter entity of Sona Comstar—from Rani Kapur.

But this is not the first time such a concern has been raised by Mandhira.

The dispute over the division of the family assets between siblings Mandhira and Sunjay Kapur, the children of Surinder Kapur, had earlier boiled over into courts of law and before the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), according to documents reviewed by Mint.

In a letter to the then Sebi chairman Ajay Tyagi in May 2021, just ahead of the public markets listing of Sona Comstar, Mandhira highlighted that her father had drafted a will that transferred the entire estate to her mother Rani Kapur, with a wish that Mandhira eventually receive her fair share.