Padma Bhushan Baba Kalyani's sister accuses him of "fraud" over mother's samadhi dispute

The battle between industrialist Baba Kalyani and his sister Sugandha Hiremath over their mother Sulochana Kalyani’s Samadhi is heating up in court. On Thursday, April 24, when the suit came up for hearing in Pune court, Sugandha accused Baba of “playing fraud on the Court”. In her affidavit filed before the court she states that Baba “even today continues to shift his stand and is guilty of deliberate deception.” Her statement was based on statements that Baba Kalyani had made in court.

Sugandha’s case is that immediately after their mother’s demise in February 2023, she requested Baba that a samadhi should be built in her memory, right next to their father’s samadhi on a plot in Keshav Nagar, Pune. Baba chose to immerse the ashes in a river instead. Closer to mother’s second death anniversary, when Sugandha wrote to Baba to build the samadhi, he dismissed it and asked her to do so on the plot where Parvati Nivas stands. Sulochana used to stay with her younger son Gaurishankar at Parvati Nivas, when she breathed her last. The plot is under Gaurishankar and his wife Rohini’s control. Sugandha scoffed at the idea of Samadhi at Parvati Nivas as it was her mother’s wish to be buried next to her husband at Keshav Nagar plot. This is following Lingayat community tradition, in which members are buried in sitting meditative position. When Baba refused to relent, Sugandha approached Pune court and filed a suit. On the very first hearing on February 13, 2025, Baba’s side produced a mail from the industrialist which stated that he was willing to talk to his siblings along with their family priest for building the samadhi. A meeting for the same was slated a week later. When the meeting did take place, Baba told Sugandha that he had already installed a Shivlinga at Jangamwadi Math in Kashi in their mother’s name and that she should not insist on samadhi at Keshav Nagar plot. Sugandha and her husband Jai Hiremath went to Kashi only to find that a small Shivlinga was placed with over a lakh others in the Math and was nothing like a samadhi. She came back and expressed shock in court as to how her brother had “deceived her yet again”.

To this Baba filed an affidavit clarifying that the meeting for samadhi was to happen between all the Kalyani siblings. But since their younger brother Gaurishankar did not participate, it did not reach fruition. Moreover, he stated that all the rituals suggested by Jagadguru had been followed after their mother’s demise, indicating that the demand for samadhi was baseless. He also added that the Keshav Nagar plot belonged to a company and not for him to allow construction of the samadhi. Reacting to the fresh allegations, a spokesperson for Baba Kalyani was quoted in India Today stating, "Ms. Sugandha Hiremath’s latest outburst is nothing short of a calculated attempt to defame Mr. Baba Kalyani. After repeatedly failing to secure a single order in her favor from the courts—despite filing a barrage of cases—she has now resorted to trial by media. These baseless and malicious allegations are a textbook example of character assassination." "When the legal system does not validate falsehoods, turning to the press with slanderous claims is both irresponsible and defamatory. Mr. Kalyani categorically denies these allegations and will pursue all appropriate legal remedies against this continued smear campaign", the spokesperson further added. Sugandha has taken offence to Baba’s stance. She has explained in court that earlier Baba had mentioned that the plot belonged to him. To establish this she had cited an earlier communication from him. Sugandha in her event affidavit has come down heavily on Baba. She has alleged that Baba keeps “changing his stand and making inconsistent statements only with a view to steal a march on the opposite party. He does not have any regard for his own word much less the sanctity of law. It is clear that he has no compunction in blatantly misleading this Hon’ ble Court and deceiving it by such misstatements.” She has requested the court to take “severe penal action” against Baba “for his attempting to deceive and defraud this Hon’ble Court”. The case has been kept for hearing next on June 27