India, New Delhi: The Surrey Coroner’s Office in the UK has formally ruled that businessman Sunjay Kapur, who was the chairman of Sona Comstar, died of “natural causes.” A letter addressed to his wife, Priya Sachdev Kapur, on Sunday said that left ventricular hypertrophy and ischemic heart disease were the reasons of his death on June 12, when he had a heart attack during a polo match in London.
The British government’s formal decision comes in the middle of a very public and nasty fight for control of the Sona Group’s estimated ₹30,000 crore empire. The issue has increased with Sunjay’s mother, Rani Kapur, alleging her son’s death was “mysterious” and not a consequence of natural causes.
Rani Kapur, who used to be the chairperson of Sona Comstar, has officially filed a criminal complaint in the UK and is asking British police to look into it fully. In a recent sad video interview, her first public appearance since her son’s death, she talked about how she still has uncertainties and said, “I still don’t know what happened to my son…” Before I leave, I need closure.
The British government says that significant cardiac problems are the medical reasons for mortality. When the heart’s main pumping chamber thickens, it becomes hard for it to pump blood properly. This is called left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). High blood pressure is a common cause of LVH. Coronary artery disease, also known as ischemic heart disease, happens when arteries get narrower, which cuts off blood and oxygen to the heart muscle.
Rani Kapur has said that certain people have taken advantage of the family’s grief to “wrest control and usurp the family legacy” during the continuing family feud. In her letter to the company’s board, she said that Priya Sachdev Kapur shouldn’t be a non-executive director and that she was forced to sign papers soon after her son’s death.
The official medical report gives a factual reason for his death, but it may not be enough to satisfy Rani Kapur’s need for a criminal probe into what she calls a “transnational conspiracy,” while the legal and public battle goes on.