Bharat Forge’s Baba Kalyani agrees to meet siblings to build mother’s Samadhi | Company Business News

Baba Kalyani, chairman and managing director of Bharat Forge, has agreed to meet his brother and sister to discuss the construction of a Samadhi, or a memorial, to their late mother Sulochana Kalyani even as the siblings feud over the division of the Kalyani Group’s assets.

This follows a court hearing held on 13 February where Baba Kalyani’s legal counsel informed the court that he was now willing to engage with his siblings to amicably resolve the issue of building the memorial. The meeting is scheduled to be held on 20 February.

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The dispute arose when Baba’s sister Sugandha Hiremath approached a Pune court earlier this month, seeking order to direct Kalyani to permit building a Samadhi for their mother on a land parcel in Keshav Nagar, Pune.

Her suit stated that the plot of land had been acquired during their father Neelkanth Kalyani’s lifetime, with the intention of it being used for the family’s final resting place. Sugandha’s request to have their mother’s Samadhi built beside that of her father was initially rejected by Baba Kalyani, she stated, leading to the legal dispute.

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Sugandha, in her suit, contended that it was her mother’s final wish to be laid to rest next to her husband. Sulochana Kalyani passed away on 25 February 2023. According to Sugandha, her mother had always expressed a desire to be buried alongside her husband, a wish that had not been honored after her passing. Sugandha, who hails from the Lingayat community, had requested that her mother’s mortal remains be interred in a sitting, meditative position as per their traditions, rather than being cremated.

As per Baba Kalyani, his letter of 25 December 2024 outlined how the family had followed the prescribed rituals in consultation with the family’s guruji (priest), but despite this, Sugandha filed the suit.

On Thursday, Baba Kalyani’s counsel informed the court that he was open to discussing the matter with his siblings. In their submission, his lawyers conveyed his willingness to meet with Sugandha and their brother Gaurishankar to consult the family priest on the rituals required to establish their mother’s Samadhi. The meeting was suggested for 20 February, and the parties involved agreed to meet on the appointed date.

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Baba Kalyani’s counsel further emphasized that his client was seeking a resolution based on the family’s collective interests and religious beliefs. “Our client, Baba Kalyani, feels that such sensitive issues relating to personal and religious beliefs should be resolved by the three siblings. Our client strongly believes that good conscience will prevail and that there is an early closure of the issue”, Kalyani’s lawyer said.

Sugandha, in her suit, underlined that Baba’s refusal to allow their mother’s Samadhi next to their father’s was not solely due to religious or cultural differences but was also linked to personal grievances. She claimed that Baba’s strained relationship with their mother, which had become sour in her final years, played a key role in his opposition to fulfilling her last wishes.

Sugandha’s counsel said they were surprised by Kalyani’s statement and by his complete ‘U turn’. “Had Baba truly believed that the issues raised in the suit were sensitive, relating to personal and religious beliefs, then he would not have categorically refused and denied completing our mother’s last rites when I reached out to him in December 2024, nor would he have deprived or obstructed his siblings from doing so,” the suit said.

The suit alleges that Sulochana sided with her younger son, Gaurishankar, in the ongoing inheritance and succession disputes within the family, which caused considerable friction between Baba and his mother. “The events that transpired angered and offended Baba and soured relations between him and his mother to such an extent that he was unable to forgive his mother even after her demise,” stated the suit, adding, “Baba’s cold and heartless treatment towards his mother on her demise was on account of his own anger and personal vendetta towards his mother at the time, which arose out of issues relating to inheritance and succession.”

Baba Kalyani’s response, as outlined in his letter, was clear that all of Sulochana’s last rites had been conducted properly, and that he felt the matter should be handled by the siblings collectively, without external interference. His lawyers reiterated that his decision to cremate their mother followed the family’s established practices and that the actions taken post-cremation were in accordance with those traditions.

In a recent court filing, Sugandha has 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.

In the petition, which was filed on 28 September before the Pune Civil Court that is not public and that Mint has seen, Hiremath claimed she recently came to know of a Kalyani Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) that funded the creation of all the group’s businesses that exist today including group flagship Bharat Forge. The Kalyani HUF has existed since the time of her grandfather Annappa Narayan Kalyani, she said in her petition.

Thus, she has argued that all the assets of the Kalyani Group today belong to this HUF, of which she has claimed a third. Listed Kalyani group companies have a combined market capitalisation of over ₹70,000 crore.