After Sunjay Kapur’s death last year, his widowed wife Priya Sachdev Kapur and mother Rani Kapur have been embroiled in a legal dispute over his estate. Earlier, the court had suggested to Rani that “80 is not the age to fight”. The judge then suggested the option of mediation. Now on Thursday, he has Supreme Court of India Former Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud was appointed as the mediator in the ongoing family dispute between late industrialist Sunjay Kapur’s mother Rani Kapur and his wife Priya Kapur over the management and control of a family trust.A bench comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Ujjal Bhuyan directed all parties to approach the mediation process with an open mind. The court also ordered them not to make any public comments or discuss the matter on social media.“It is a family dispute. Let it be between the family alone. It should not be a source of entertainment,” added the court.The Supreme Court observed that in the previous hearing on April 27, it had already suggested mediation considering the sensitive nature of the matter. On Thursday, lawyers representing all sides agreed to the proposal, after which former CJI Chandrachud was appointed as mediator.“We will wait for the preliminary report of the mediator and then proceed with the matter,” the court said while scheduling the next hearing for August.The dispute centers around a family trust that was allegedly created in October 2017 in the name of 80-year-old Rani Kapur. The Supreme Court has requested that the trust be declared “null and void” on the grounds that it was formed on the basis of “false, fabricated and fraudulent” documents.Earlier, the Supreme Court had issued notices to Priya Kapur and other respondents on Rani Kapur’s petition. The petition also sought a status regarding the transfer or disposition of the assets and property of the trust pending resolution of the case.Meanwhile, the legal battle over the Kapur family’s estate and assets is already before the Delhi High Court, and the Supreme Court petition seeks to maintain the status quo of all trust assets pending the proceedings. For those who don’t know, the children of Sunjay’s ex-wife Karisma Kapoor have also been in a legal dispute with Priya, who have alleged that she forged her will. Recently, the court granted interim relief to Karisma’s children in the case and froze Sunjay’s accounts.
