CALCUTTA, India (Reuters) - One of India's biggest business families is squabbling over the fortune of one of its members who died leaving assets worth about $440 million to an accountant who is not even a relation.Basant Kumar Birla, patriarch of the Birla family, said on Wednesday the family was stunned to learn that his cousin's widow had willed her inherited business empire and real estate to her chartered accountant, Rajendra S. Lodha.
Priyamvada Birla, who died last week at 76, had no children. Her husband, Madhav Prasad Birla, died in 1990 leaving her businesses that ranged from chemicals and optic fiber cables to schools and hospitals. They also owned prime real estate in Calcutta.
"The will has shocked us. We are united and will take legal action and go to court to fight this. How can assets and money be given to someone who is an outsider?" Basant Kumar Birla told Reuters in Calcutta where many of the Birla family are based.
The powerful Birlas -- business leaders for over a century -- have interests spanning automobiles, cement, education, software, telecom, metals, chemical and textiles. Their total turnover runs into several hundred billion rupees.
Some newspapers in India -- which have given front-page billing to the spat -- estimated the will left 50 billion rupees ($1.10 billion) in assets to Lodha who was not available for comment.
If the will is executed, it will be the first time the assets of the Birla family -- many of whom count among the who's who of corporate India -- will go outside the family.
