Babasaheb Kalyani, the billionaire promoter of the Kalyani group, has said that an application by his sister Sugandha Hiremath seeking expedited hearing of her suit for partition of an alleged Kalyani Family Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) is merely to gain sympathy and publicize family disputes.
Hiremath’s suit, filed in 2012, had purportedly not seen any efforts to expedite the hearing for the past 13 years, Baba Kalyani said in his reply filed in the Pune Civil Court. Mint has seen the reply, which is not public yet.
“Sugandha Hiremath was not at all diligent in taking any steps to expedite the said matter for the past 13 years for the reasons best known to her,” he said in an affidavit.
Claims over Kalyani family assets, HUF details
In a recent application with the court, Hiremath laid claim to a third of all Kalyani family assets, including shares of listed group companies such as Bharat Forge and Kalyani Steels, and private assets like land, real estate, and jewellery.
She also filed an application seeking expedited hearing of her plea against her brothers Baba Kalyani and Gaurishankar Kalyani, claiming that the three siblings, being senior citizens, would be severely affected if justice is delayed.
Pending a decision on her claims, Hiremath sought to appoint a court-appointed officer to administer the Kalyani family wealth.
Baba Kalyani alleged that Hiremath’s application seeking expedited hearing of her case “was merely to gain sympathy and publicise the family disputes”. He claimed that Hiremath’s family had filed “various litigations”, including an application to amend her 2012 suit, in Pune and Mumbai courts, which were opposed by him and were pending adjudication. In view of this, he argued that her application for an expedited hearing should not be considered at this stage.
In the amendment application filed on 28 September before the Pune court, Hiremath claimed she recently discovered the existence of a Kalyani HUF that funded the creation of all the group’s businesses, including the group flagship Bharat Forge.
She stated that the Kalyani HUF had existed since the time of her grandfather, Annappa Narayan Kalyani, and argued that all the assets of the Kalyani Group today belong to this HUF, of which she claims a third. Listed Kalyani group companies have a combined market capitalization of over ₹70,000 crore.
In the 2012 suit against her late father Neelkanth Kalyani and her brother Babasaheb, Hiremath had sought to be made a coparcener of the Neelkanth Annappa Kalyani (NAK) HUF, which she now claims she was misled into believing was the only HUF of the family.
Sibling dispute expands with probate challenge
Apart from this suit, the court was also hearing the application seeking probate on the wills of the late Sulochana Kirloskar, the mother of the three siblings, who passed away in 2023. The first will of January 2012 primarily benefits Baba Kalyani, while the second will of 2022 primarily benefits the youngest sibling, Gaurishankar Kalyani.
Hiremath has challenged the validity of both the wills. During the hearing on 21 January, Hiremath’s lawyers urged the court to hear the amendment application expeditiously, claiming her brothers may alienate the family wealth.
Her lawyers alleged in court that Baba and Gaurishankar had colluded to deny her what is rightfully hers. “Both the wills exclude Sugandha. Both the brothers have conspired to keep Sugandha out of her mother’s wealth.”
The court has posted further hearing on the application seeking expedited hearing to 13 February.