How A 75 Year-Old Rolls Royce Caused A Divorce & Made Husband Liable To Pay Wife 2.25 Crore
Divorce is a legal process of ending a marriage. There are several reasons why a couple would want to end their marriage, and we have come across several reports in the past in newspapers and on social media about the rising issues in society. However, we have now come across a very interesting case where a 75-year-old Rolls-Royce car became the reason for a couple’s separation. It happened in India, and the court has made the husband liable to pay Rs 2.25 crore to his wife.
A case titled Katyayani Angre vs Arjun Singh Kak & Ors was considered by the Supreme Court of India. The couple, who got married back in 2018 in a symbolic ceremony in Rishikesh, ended the marriage over allegations of dowry demands involving a vintage Rolls-Royce.
A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant, Joymala Bagchi and Vipul M. Pancholi, on August 29, 2025, dissolved the marriage under Article 142 of the Constitution. Before the Supreme Court, the Gwalior bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court had quashed the wife’s complaint of dowry demand and cruelty.
She approached the Supreme Court with the case and challenged the Gwalior bench’s judgment. As per the complaint, the husband and her in-laws were harassing her for a 1951 model Rolls-Royce car and a flat in Mumbai. According to Katyayani, the car was a very rare model that was handmade by H. J. Mulliner & Co., ordered on behalf of Maharani Chimna Bai Sahib Gaekwad by Jawaharlal Nehru, and passed down in her family.
In her complaint, she alleged that her husband and father-in-law had publicly displayed their fascination with the car and expected that it would be gifted to them. When the demand was not met, she was denied access to her matrimonial house and subjected to character assassination.
The husband, who appeared before the court, denied all the allegations against him and told the bench that the marriage held in 2018 at Rishikesh was only a symbolic ritual conducted for astrological reasons on the advice of her family guru. He stated that the couple never stayed together, the marriage was never consummated, and that the registration of the marriage at Gwalior was fraudulent. He accused the wife and her relatives of forgery in creating the marriage certificate. He also denied ever demanding the Rolls-Royce or a Mumbai flat.
In November 2024, the Supreme Court had asked both parties to explore mediation and appointed Advocate R. Basant as the mediator. After several discussions, the parties reached a settlement.
The court said, “In exercise of the power conferred upon us by Article 142 of the Constitution of India, we dissolve the marriage between the petitioner and respondent No. 1. There shall be no relationship, matrimonial or otherwise, between them hitherto.”
As part of the deal, the woman will retain all gifts given by her husband and family. The man agreed to return items including the engagement ring, achkan buttons, and a 10-gram ginni. He also handed over a bank draft of Rs 1 crore and gifts on the same day at court and promised to clear the remaining Rs 1.25 crore by November 2025.
Via: LawBeat