Mahesh Agarwal’s death in Singapore has triggered an ugly struggle over property which became public recently after two Haldiram stores in Kolkata were vandalised by hoodlums.
Shantanu Guha Ray
An estranged widow’s bitter struggle over property is at the heart of a raging feud in Kolkata’s Haldiram family which recently lost one of its pioneers, Mahesh Agarwal.
Family insiders said the fight could get even bitter in the coming days, ostensibly because the property runs into hundreds of crores. The brawl became public when vandals — encouraged by a section of the family — appeared at two Haldiram stores in Kolkata, destroyed property and decamped with high-value products such as bank details, laptops and pen drives containing sensitive information about the company and its properties.
“There were tensions within the family,” said Nilanjan Ghosh, a senior business analyst based in Kolkata. “It has all come to the surface now that Mahesh Agarwal is dead.”
Mahesh was warmly called Mr Gentleman by his friends in Kolkata, a city where he operated as many as four, huge Haldiram outlets. Children too had fond memories of him. They called him Uncle Willy Wonka. Like the fictional character in the 1964 Roald Dahl’s novel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Agarwal cared for everyone in the family, even rank outsiders.
The company’s legacy is traced to Ganga Bhishen Agarwal, who was called Haldiram for his wheatish-turmeric complexion. The family hailed from Bikaner, a desert town popular for its Karni Mata Temple where rats share food with the reigning deity. The Agarwals had a kirana store and sold bhujia sev, a yellow-coloured, salted savoury. And then, a decade after India gained independence, the family travelled to Kolkata.
The Agarwal siblings split in the early 1990s, dividing the outlets into zones to maintain independent operations. Manoharlal and Madhusudan sought the north Indian markets, Shiv Kishan got the south and west Indian markets and Prabhu Shankar and Ashok got the markets in east India.
A court ruling in 2013 banned Prabhu Shankar and Ashok from using the “Haldiram’s Bhujiawala” name. The duo rebranded it to “Prabhuji: From the house of Haldiram’s”. The brand, split into three geographic entities with nearly 12 companies, grossed Rs 7,130 crore during FY19. The sales of Haldiram products were on a par with Hindustan Unilever’s food and refreshment division. In FY18, the combined sales of Haldiram products grossed Rs 6,241 crore.
What triggered the fight?
So what was the trigger to the slugfest in the family which controlled the business in east India?
Mahesh, a cousin of Prabhu Shankar, had a serious problem with his wife, Meena, who stayed separately with the children for almost eight years. Mahesh, who often slept in the office complex, had even sent her a divorce notice but did not push it in the courts. Marwari families, always well-knit, rarely make internal fights public and prefer to lie low.
Mahesh, who had a liver transplant, was taken to Singapore for treatment by Sharad Agarwal, his trusted lieutenant for many years. Sharad’s father Ravi, a cousin of Mahesh, died in a car accident in the 19090s in Bikaner, Rajasthan. Sharad ran the fast food and sweetmeat business on behalf of an ailing Mahesh for many years.
Mahesh died in Singapore on April 3, 2020, a day before his 57th birthday. His estranged wife Meena and daughter Avni were in Singapore when Mahesh died. Sharad, who had accompanied Mahesh to Singapore, had by then returned to Kolkata.
And it was around that time it was known in the Agarwal family circles that Mahesh had split his ancestral properties worth Rs 1,200 crore in three parts, offering one third each to his son Pratik, sister Manju and Sharad. He had put a stringent condition that no one would be allowed to sell the properties and that the troika must develop the branch of the foods company he created — known as Haldiram Bhujiawala (Pratik Foods) brand — beyond its current turnover of Rs 4,000 crore.
Pratik was asked to pay Rs 1 lakh a month to his mother for her pocket expenses. Mahesh had also made arrangements for educational expenses of his daughters and also allotted Rs 3 crore each for his daughter’s marriage (whenever that happens). Pratik and sister Avni, for the record, live in Kolkata. Elder daughter Anchal is a scientist and works with Sandisk in San Francisco while another daughter Antara is studying in Durham University, UK. Besides Haldiram outlets in the city, the properties also included some real estate and a Monotel, a luxury business hotel close to the Kolkata airport.
An uneasy division
But Meena did not like the arrangement and pressed for a change in the family will of Mahesh Agarwal.
“And it was then all hell broke loose. And this is not the first time that troubles have hit the Haldiram family which is extended all over India. They have had serious issues earlier at their Delhi operations,” remarked Ghosh the analyst.
Wrote author Pavitra Kumar in his book Bhujia Barons: The Untold Story of How Haldiram Built a Rs 5,000-crore Empire: “Their success have come at a price, and while they certainly enjoy their place in the Sun, they too have many a dark moment. Like Mario Puzo very aptly noted in The Godfather: ‘Every family has bad memories’, this family certainly has a few old cupboards filled with pain, endurance, loss and disappointment. It is these very moments that test the mettle of a man and define character. It is also these moments that have shaped the history of this empire and differentiated one brother from another.”
Ghosh said the stuff people don’t know in Kolkata was far more intriguing.
“We are learning many things now, including how Mahesh relied totally on Sharad and how Sharad— almost single handedly—ran the business on his behalf and did everything, including his treatment. It reflected a sad trend in the family where Mahesh’s son seemed a little disinterested in the business,” said Ghosh.
Tensions remained high within the extended Haldiram family. Things started getting out of control when Meena pressed for changes in the property and wanted total control of the stores and other properties. She was initially told by lawyers belonging to Sharad’s family that Mahesh’s property did not support her claims and that only her son had one third of the property, the rest were with Sharad and Manju.
How important was Sharad to Mahesh, Meena asked?
“She was told Sharad was Mahesh’s lifeline and had been handling all operations of Haldirams in Kolkata on behalf of Mahesh. She was shown the property papers and also countless WhatsApp messages sent by Sharad asking her to visit her ailing husband which she did not respond to,” said a family insider.
The family insider also told Meena there were high chances of Sharad and Manju trying to take control of what they claim is their legitimate slice of business.
But Meena and her daughter Avni did not agree. Strangely, Pratik remained silent when tensions were building up. Many in Kolkata claim that Pratik had never been a hands-on person in the business. “He was Mahesh’s son and the company was rechristened as Haldiram Bhujiawala (Pratik Foods) but Sharad ran the show with Mahesh. If there is one thing we know for sure, it’s that Mahesh’s forward planning skills were second to none. But as he developed liver complications, Sharad meant everything to him,” the insider added.
Fight becomes public, ugly
Things took an ugly turn meanwhile.
Avni, Mahesh’s daughter, took to Facebook to say how their stores in Kolkata were vandalised on July 11, 2020, by hoodlums allegedly hired by members of the extended Agarwal family. She shared some photographs, saying her family has lost all the bank details and property papers.
“We are shocked, terrified. We do not know what to do?” Avni wrote on her Facebook page. Avni alleged that the mobsters were led by Sharad Agarwal, Manju Agarwal, sister of Prabhu Shankar, the brother who was given the eastern part of the Haldiram empire, and Manju’s son, Vatsal Agarwal. She alleged that the troika entered the shop forcibly, cut CCTV cameras telephone lines, stole hard discs of computers, assaulted and forced employees to divulge the bank account details and passwords of emails operated by the late Mahesh Aggarwal. The hoodlums also took away account books, legal papers, property papers, official stamps, share certificates, signed cheques, purchase bills, Income tax files, balance sheets and many other documents, including Mahesh’s laptop and pen drives. She claimed the damage caused to their property was over Rs 80 lakh. Avni further said she is scared about the safety of her businesses, employees and lives of her family members.
Cops at Shakespeare Sarani Police Station said a complaint was registered and a few members of the Haldiram family were questioned but not detained. “The case is under investigation and will progress further only if both sides press charges,” said an officer. The officer further said it is still not clear why the fight took place and why some members of the extended Haldiram family descended on the stores in what appeared to be an attempt to gain control of the operations.
The dust has not yet settled, there are high chances of renewed clashes within the extended Haldiram family in Kolkata who control the business in east India.
Avni and her mother want to take the case much beyond the clashes at store, the duo could even go to the courts to seek a re-look at the property will finalised by Mahesh.
Seasoned business analyst and former partner, PWC, Ambarish Dasgupta, however, sees the case as an isolated incident. “This is just a one-off incident which took place and caused some tensions. You must also remember how Marwaris have shaped businesses in West Bengal and parts of India for generations. I would not be too worried about this Haldiram incident and I am sure they will sort it out among themselves,” Dasgupta said in a telephonic interview.
Decades after members of the Haldiram family fought bitter courtroom battles to gain control over their slice of business in north India, the development in Kolkata has shaken up family members controlling the business in India’s eastern parts.
Shantanu Guha Ray is a senior journalist based in New Delhi.