The executive director of a British tobacco company has sought police protection as he is embroiled in an escalating inheritance dispute with his family.
Samir Modi, who heads the Godfrey Phillips tobacco empire which was established in 1844 at Bevis Marks in Aldgate, London, by a cigar manufacturer of the same name, alleges that he ‘felt threatened by his mother’, Bina Modi during the division of the sizeable Modi estate – which has still not been resolved.
MSN reported Samir’s appeal to law enforcement which said “”I am feeling very threatened as these people have assaulted me without any provocation and may again harm me physically or get me killed through their goons,” he stated in his letter to the Station House Officer (SHO) of the Sarita Vihar police station.
KK Modi, the patriarch of the Modi family, died six years ago -but Samir, along with his siblings Lalit Modi and Charu Modi, are contesting the distribution of the inheritance, which includes the family’s nearly 50 per cent shareholding in the publicly listed company Godfrey Phillips, valued at over £415,536,000, as well as shares in other Modi group firms across cosmetics, retail, and direct selling sectors.
The core of the dispute lies in the execution of a trust deed by KK Modi, which, according to Samir, stipulates that the siblings are equal beneficiaries and successors to the family’s companies and assets. Samir Modi has accused his mother of not adhering to the trust deed’s terms, alleging she has taken unilateral control of the company.
