Kalyani family feud could take a fresh turn as a crucial will surfaces

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The dispute between the families of Bharat Forge Ltd’s chief Baba Kalyani and his siblings over family assets estimated to be worth billions of dollars may take a fresh turn with the surfacing of a court affidavit filed two years ago.

The document reveals a will registered by Baba Kalyani’s late mother, Sulochana Kalyani, in which she gifted much of the family wealth to her younger son, Gaurishankar Kalyani. This is in sharp contrast with Baba Kalyani’s claims over the family wealth.

This marks a new turn in the family dispute, which so far has been primarily between Sugandha Hiremath and her family on one side and Baba Kalyani and Gaurishankar Kalyani’s families on the other. The affidavit, a copy of whichMint has reviewed, also alleges that Baba Kalyani took away a large number of assets from his ageing father, Neelkanth Kalyani, in the 1990s and instigated Sulochana Kalyani to file cases against Gaurishankar Kalyani and family.

The affidavit, filed in a Pune court by Sulochana Kalyani in December 2022, three months before she passed, states that between 1992 and 1994, Baba Kalyani took control of several family-run companies, including Bharat Forge and Kalyani Steels Ltd from NeelkanthKalyani. This, the affidavit states, made Neelkanth and Sulochana Kalyani decide to give control of the Hiremath family-promoted pharmaceutical firm Hikal Ltd—which is at the centre of the Kalyani family dispute—to their daughter Sugandha Hiremath.

Then in 2007, Baba Kalyani’s parents decided to gift certain assets of the family trusts to Gaurishankar Kalyani and his family, the affidavit states. Also read | Bharat Forge's Baba Kalyani plans to sue his sister and Hiremath siblings in feud over family