The death of an Indian billionaire and friend of Prince William who swallowed a bee has triggered a feud over a £3billion inheritance.
Sunjay Kapur, 53, collapsed in front of horrified teammates during the game at Guards Polo Club in Windsor.
Indian-born Mr Kapur was thought to have suffered a fatal heart attack after being stung in the mouth, potentially triggering anaphylactic shock.
Kapur was the heir too the global car parts giant Sona Comstar, a £2.7billion business founded by his father.
Now the company has been plunged into a bitter succession battle, between the businessman’s mother Rani Kapur and the firm’s board of directors, The Telegraph reported.
Rani Kapur reportedly wrote to the board on July 24 saying her son had died in ‘suspicious and unexplained circumstances’.
It came just a month after the board unanimously appointed a new chairman on June 23.
In the letter, she reportedly accused people in the company of exploiting the family’s grief to ‘wrestle control’ of the company.
Sunjay Kapur, 53, pictured with his mother Rani Kapur, who is battling the company’s board of directors over the inheritance of the company
Indian businessman Sunjay Kapur collapsed while playing polo in England earlier this year (pictured in 2014)
She said she had been forced to sign documents behind locked doors while under emotional distress.
Mrs Kapur claimed she had been blocked from accessing her bank accounts and did not authorise appointments to represent her family.
In her letter, which was also sent to India’s market regulator, she claimed her late husband, who died in 2015, made her the sole beneficiary of his estate as well as majority shareholder of the Sona Group.
The company said Mrs Kapur had not been a shareholder for six years and said she was not majority shareholder of the group.
Sunjay Kapur’s widow Priya Sachdeva also appears to have sided with Sona Comstar.
Ms Sachdeva was appointed as a non-executive director at the company’s annual meeting on July 25, despite Ms Kapur’s objections and request to delay the meeting.
Her office last week shared the coroner’s report which confirmed that her husband had died of natural causes.
The report said he died from ventricular hypertrophy and ischaemic heart disease and the investigation was closed.
Mr Kapur died in June leading to a battle for his £3billion inheritance and his company (pictured in 2013)
He was married to Priya Sachdev Kapur (pictured, left)
Ms Kapur wrote to the UK authorities calling for an investigation into his death, which was rejected.
Mr Kapur’s sister Mandhire Kapur has also been dragged into the dispute.
In an Instagram post, she shared a photograph with her brother and mother saying she would ‘protect what you would have wanted, and what Dad dreamed’
Mrs Kapur claimed there was a conspiracy to take control of the company away from her family.
Vaibhav Gaggar the senior advocate who represents Ms Kapur, told The Telegraph: ‘It quite clearly reinforces what she’s been saying, that her entire legacy is being usurped and no one is willing to look into the cause of death.’
‘It may all be very well interlinked and she has quite unequivocally said there is a conspiracy behind her son’s death.’
The University of Buckingham graduate married Priya Sachdev Kapur, a former model and entrepreneur with whom he had a son named Azarias Kapur born in 2018.
Mr Kapur died as his Aureus team were playing in a semi-final match in the Cartier Queen’s Cup against Sujan Indian Tigers.
The match started at 3pm on Tuesday, June 12 at the club’s Smith’s Lawn grounds.
The club is closely associated with the Royal family. Prince Philip was the club’s president from the time it was founded in January 1955 until his death in April 2021 – holding the role for 66 years. King Charles became the club’s new president last year.
In a statement the club said its chairman Lieutenant Colonel Sean O’Dwyer along with ‘directors and members’ were ‘shocked to learn that Sunjay Kapur, owner of the Aureus polo team, died after becoming unwell when playing in a match at Smith’s Lawn’.
The statement added: ‘The club sends its deepest condolences to his widow, Priya Sachdev, his children, the wider Kapur family and his Aureus team-mates.’
Sona Comstar has been contacted for comment.
