15 years on, Birla and Lodha still splitting hairs over Priyamvada will

The story has all the makings of a corporate thriller, involving one of the most well-known business families of the country and high courtroom drama.

It all began in 2004, when the former chairman of Birla Corporation, Priyamvada Birla, died. A will, dated 1999, emerged, bequeathing her Rs 5,000-crore assets to co-chairman and well-known chartered accountant Rajendra Singh Lodha.

What followed is a decade-and-a-half of legal battle between the Birlas and the Lodhas. It still seems a long way from reaching a conclusion.

In the past few months, the case has come to the limelight again. It is now in