A division bench of the Delhi High Court has upheld the grant of probate of Luxor Group’s late founder Davinder Kumar Jain’s will in favour of his wife Usha Jain. A grant of probate is a legal document issued by a court that confirms the validity of a will and authorises the executor named in it to manage the deceased’s estate.

The disputed 2004 will made Usha Jain the sole beneficiary of her husband’s assets worth hundreds of crores and excluded their four children. The order came after DK Jain’s daughter Priya Jain petitioned the Delhi High Court to set aside its recent ruling that upheld the validity of the 2004 will, which she claimed was forged and wrongfully denied her inheritance rights.

Dispute began in 2014

The dispute arose when DK Jain passed away in 2014. At the time, Luxor had expanded into 27 closely held companies operating across sectors including stationery, plastics, hospitality and real estate, with a total turnover and assets worth hundreds of crores. This led to a bitter dispute between Usha Jain and her four children – Priya Jain , Pooja Jain, Payal Kapoor and Pankaj Jain.

In May 2014 Sanjay Kalra, the family’s chartered accountant, filed a case before the Delhi High Court seeking to prove the validity (probate) of the alleged will of 11 December 2004, which named him as the executor and Usha Jain as the sole beneficiary.

This prompted her dependent daughter Priya Jain, who had lived with her father and was actively involved in the family’s business, to file a legal challenge. She alleged her mother colluded to gain control of Luxor Group and ‘coercively’ deprived her of her livelihood after her father’s death.

She also contested the will, claiming it was forged and had glaring errors and omissions, including a misspelling of the DK Jain’s name, the absence of any bequest to his children, and her own ‘unnatural exclusion’ from the company after her father’s death. She also claimed it was unregistered and used a type of paper that didn’t exist back then, and questioned why her mother had sole custody and control of it.

Court rules in Usha’s favour

But on 27 May the Delhi High Court granted a letter of administration with respect to the disputed 2004 will, making the family’s chartered accountant the executor of the will and Usha Jain the sole beneficiary.

A letter of administration gives the appointed administrator the legal power to handle the deceased’s assets, pay debts, and distribute the remaining property according to the law. The court also rejected a plea to have the will sent for forensic examination.

Priya Jain said the judgement was “completely vitiated” by fundamental legal and factual errors and ought to be set aside immediately. She claimed the judge “erroneously” shifted the onus of proving the authenticity of the will from the propounder of the to the objector.

A propounder is a person who presents a will to a court of law or other relevant authority for legal recognition. This person takes the responsibility of proving the will’s validity, demonstrating that it reflects the testator’s true intentions, and was executed properly.

During the proceedings, Priya’s sisters Pooja and Payal withdrew their objections after reaching separate financial settlements of ₹30 crore each with their mother.

Usha Jain was represented by senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Darpan Wadhwa, assisted by Ruby Singh Ahuja and Vasu Singh from law firm Karanjawala & Co. Priya Jain was represented by senior advocate Harish Malhotra, assisted by advocate Rajiv Bahl.