New Delhi: Conjecture, confusion and scepticism surrounds the will and estate of late designer Rohit Bal, pioneer of India’s fashion industry and architect of its now staggering global success. Three months after the death of the flamboyant fashion designer, an unregistered will has emerged. Bal appears to have left the majority of his estate to Lalit Tehlan, a former model who describes the designer as his “soulmate”.
The will is now being contested in court. At stake is not just property worth Rs 18 crore and a bevvy of designer watches, paintings, sculptures, but the bigger legal vacuum over potentially same-sex unions and the mess that surrounds their inheritance questions.
The validity of Rohit Bal’s will is being challenged by various members of his family. His two stepbrothers, Rajiv and Rakesh Bal, from his mother’s side, as well as two stepsisters, from his father’s, have raised objections—calling the will fabricated.
They are raising questions about both the will’s validity and the depth of Bal’s relationship with Lalit Tehlan.
“There wasn’t any will before his death. He had specifically told me that he had never written anything in favour of Lalit,” said Rajiv Bal, co-director of Rohit Bal Design. “His [Lalit’s] friendship with him was for monetary reasons.”
Tehlan is also the founder of Alexander Jeans, a brand under the Rohit Bal umbrella.
The conversation surrounding the will has devolved into two camps and two narratives—the family and the companion. Lalit Tehlan’s lawyer, Jay Bhardwaj, filed a probate petition that was heard in the Delhi High Court last week, where Justice Anish Dayal stressed that Tehlan was not a family member. At a hearing Tuesday, the High Court maintained the status quo, assuring that for the time being, property cannot be touched.
Justice Dayal also called it “a peculiar situation,” as Tehlan is neither executor nor family member.
“He was my best friend for 20 years,” Tehlan told ThePrint. “I was 18 years old when we met. He made my career—three months after I met him, I was doing every fashion show.”
The late designer’s estate comprises his Defence Colony home as well as Rohit Bal Design Pvt. Ltd. Going by the unregistered will, which according to Tehlan’s lawyers was written in October 2023, both have been bequeathed to Tehlan. Moreover, Rs 10 lakh has been left to long-term staffers, including domestic workers and a driver.
But for friends of Bal, the contents of the will point to a shift in the man they knew as Gudda—whose persona was as flamboyant as his clothes.
“There were a few lines in the will that were unlike Gudda. He was a man of erudite and articulate thinking, even at his worst,” said Suvir Saran, celebrity chef and close friend. He was part of a select group that was invited to see the will at the Lodhi Hotel, with Tehlan’s lawyer and executor of the will, FDCA chairman Sunil Sethi.
According to Saran, there would have also been more variance in disbursement. Bal would have wanted to give back to his Alma Mater, NIFT, to his artisans, to his embroiderers.
However, Saran added that if this, in fact, is a legitimate document the family’s priority ultimately will be to adhere to his wishes. And that’s what he would want as well.
“I’ve been an openly gay man for 20 years. I would want my family to honour my will,” he said. “If Gudda has left his will to his friend then so be it. But we have to make sure that those are his wishes.”
Also read: Bollywood has hijacked the fashion ramp. What we are getting are awkward walks
Finding his ‘soulmate’
Nearly two decades ago in an interview, Bal said that he was gay— some years before pride parades became a staple and homosexuality made its way into public consciousness.
“When I was 18, he came to my house in Shahpur Jat and told my parents that I was his responsibility now,” said Tehlan. “I was a boxer then. I couldn’t speak English. He defended me to people who’d make fun of me.” Tehlan added that they were best friends and that Rohit used to call him his soulmate.
By this time, Rohit’s career had skyrocketed and he was being hailed as a visionary—the man who injected glamour into Indian textiles. He achieved milestone after milestone. In 1996, Time Magazine named him India’s Master of Fabric and Fantasy.
But towards the end of Bal’s life, according to a slew of reports, his health had seriously declined. He was in and out of hospital due to a heart ailment and also had a severe drinking problem
While Tehlan concurred with the fact of the maverick designer’s heart disease, he also insisted that he was mentally sound and capable of conducting both business and personal affairs. The former model has also been denied access to Bal’s Defence Colony home.
“He had his ailments, but he was mentally well. He was able to make independent decisions,” Tehlan said. “He was doing shows, working with the brand. I wasn’t there when he wrote this will.”
He was, of course, referring to the designer’s swan song, for which all stops were pulled out.
Also read: Urban Elite vs Union of India—what went behind the scenes of SC judgment on same-sex marriage
Matters of inheritance
The Hindu Succession Act 1956 lays out three categories of heirs. A class 1 heir is a spouse, a child, or a mother. A class 2 heir opens the door for extended family, such as siblings, grandparents or uncles. Bal, by virtue of his sexuality and the absence of a heteronormative family structure, did not have a class 1 heir.
In January 2023, when the same-sex marriage hearings were in full swing, a petitioner, in an interview, said: “So what happens if he [their partner] were to pass away? The children would have no rights to his estate.” The couple in question has been together for 17 years and share two children.
The issues at play in court were restricted to marriage, but, however, its trajectory would lead to questions of inheritance.
“The issues in the marriage equality litigation in the Supreme Court were narrowly drawn around the right to marry, but the fact that this would have a ripple effect on the question of succession for spouses/partners was plainly evident in the course of arguments,” explained a queer lawyer practising in the Delhi High Court who did not wish to be named.
Questions of succession and inheritance were implicit through the hearings, which were based on petitions filed by two queer couples. The court ultimately ruled against the legalisation of same-sex marriage in October 2023.
“This in fact cuts both ways—the need for partners in queer relationships to have access to succession, as well as the inevitable implications of the right to marry on the issue of succession [among other fields of family law]. This became one of the reasons for the court’s disinclination to enter into an ostensibly legislative exercise [of tinkering with a personal law],” he added.
And while people are entitled to pass on their estate to anyone—friends or lovers—individual agency is a factor.
“The question of agency comes in because the law enforces the system of the natal family and it recognises nothing outside the natal family,” said the lawyer quoted above.
If the will is implemented, the majority of Rohit Bal’s estate will be handed over to Lalit Tehlan. According to family members, it was Tehlan who fuelled his alcohol addiction, enabled his vices.
“We don’t always have immediate families. We make our own families sometimes. Lalit is the family who he chose by writing a will in his favour,” said one of Tehlan’s lawyers Disha Bajaj.
Family’s dispute
Bal’s family members, as well as his friends, dispute the will owing to its unusual recipient and the designer’s worsening mental health.
“He was mentally incapacitated for the last three years. He couldn’t have written any will that’d be taken seriously,” said a friend who did not want to be named.
The will explicitly states that nothing should be left to the Bal brothers.
“It’s a bogus or a manipulated will. Where is the question of someone who’s an outsider to the family getting property that belongs to the family?” asked the family’s lawyer, Abhinav Vashisht. “The executor [Sunil Sethi] has refused to support the filing of the matter. Whatever he [Tehlan] tries, he will have to fight.” He declined to comment further due to the matter being sub-judice.
After graduating from St Stephen’s College, Rohit joined his elder brother Rajiv’s Orchid Overseas Pvt Ltd, a garment export company. Soon after, he branched out—finding his footing at NIFT and starting his brand.
Since the matter is sub-judice, Rajiv Bal declined to comment on the existence of an alternate will. But, presenting a challenge in court was a no-brainer for the family.
“If we didn’t share a relationship, how would these things come about?” asked Rajiv Bal. “We never considered ourselves to be stepbrothers. That’s a term that’s only come up now.”
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)