Known as “GL” in the industry, Gopal built the G L Raheja real estate empire over five decades, during which time he gave India its first apartment hotel in Powai and Mumbai its first departmental store, Shoppers Stop. His companies are among the biggest private owner of land in Mumbai and possess properties in other parts of India, including The Carlton in Kodaikanal. He has one son, Sandeep, and two daughters, Sabita Narang and Sonali Arora. The immediate plea in his petition is to stop Sandeep from proceeding with board meetings on September 25 and later, which he says lack his consent.
According to the suit, the genesis of the family feud dates to the year 2005, when Sandeep began fearing interference from the brothers-in-law since his younger sister was detected with brain tumour and undergoing treatment. In 2006, Gopal, “being in absolute power”, rearranged the shares within the family. He retained 42% of the holding company, left nothing to the two daughters, and gave 58% of it to Sandeep, Durga and their two minor daughters with the condition that Sandeep abide by the Raheja family arrangement. After this, Gopal continued as the group chairperson.
But the feud, according to the plaint, did not end. In August 2011, Durga asked Gopal to buy a Rs 100-crore house in London; his reluctance to do so, Gopal says, led to the “unfortunate events and disgraceful behaviour the next month”.
On September 1, Sandeep called Gopal for a meeting along with his two sisters and a brother-in-law. In the meeting, the petition says, Sandeep tried forcing Gopal to sign over all the shares to him and his family. “Sandeep and his wife insisted on an immediate division…. They threatened Gopal that no medical attention would be given to him at home and that he would be left to die.” They also allegedly threatened the sisters.
Sandeep, according to the petition, took the keys to Gopal’s Bandra home, Raheja House, at Pali Hill. On December 29, when Sandeep and Durga were in London, assisted by a locksmith, Gopal entered his home and found it “uninhabitable”, with all the “bathrooms broken down and electrical fuses ripped apart”. When Gopal hired workers to repair the house, the suit says, Sandeep and Durga returned from London and threatened to file a “rape” case against the workers unless they left.
Ten days later, Gopal was “shocked to find that Sandeep had changed the lock to his office cabin in the office too”. Sandeep further humiliated him, the suit says, by asking the staff to report only to him. Gopal says he wrote letters to his son, expressing hurt and requesting him to be “reasonable”. But these pleas and requests for mediation were also rebuffed.
The relation soured further this year with Sandeep’s parents-in-law being brought on board the company, the suit says. On January 28, Sandeep wrote to Gopal, claiming “sole ownership and control” of the empire. The father and son thereafter exchanged acrimonious and emotional letters.
In July, Sandeep wrote a 26-page letter, where he accused Gopal of wrongful agreements with a third party. He wrote that, despite them staying together for 18 years, Gopal appeared to be under “the influence of one Chandrika, a Brahmakumari half his age, at whose behest this entire charade is being orchestrated“. Sandeep also accused his sisters of using their father as a “pawn” to “extort additional monies“. Gopal says the allegations were made to defame him. –from the TOI