Mistress fights widow for slice of late businessman's £2.5m fortune to support lovechild

A woman who had a lovechild with a foreign businessman is locked in a dispute with his widow after demanding a slice of his £2.5 million fortune.

Melissa Proles, 42, met Indian entrepreneur Baldev Kohli at St George’s Tennis Club in Weybridge and gave birth to a daughter in March 2013.

Ms Proles, an HR executive, claims the “larger-than-life” Mr Kohli proposed shortly after their relationship began and “doted on” his daughter.

However, he returned to India after being diagnosed with cancer in October 2014. He died at the age of 59 in Delhi about a year later.

In his will, the businessman left his entire fortune to his wife of 35 years, Harjeet Kaur Kohli. She insists they were not “estranged” and that she had cared for him in his final days.

Ms Proles now wants a slice of his estate as “reasonable provision” for their four-year-old daughter. She told the High Court Mr Kohli had showered the girl with gifts, funded her nursery school place and planned to pay for her to have tennis coaching.

“He wanted to honour his parental responsibilities, and to care for [the girl] and see her,” said Julia Beer, for Ms Proles. Her case relies on proving Mr Kohli was “domiciled” in England when he died.

However, Teresa Rosen Peacocke, for Mrs Kohli, argued that Mr Kohli made a conscious decision to “go home to India” before his death.

“He expressed doubts and disappointment about his relationship with Melissa, and doubted his paternity of [the girl],” the barrister claimed.

Ms Beer, arguing that Mr Kohli had substantial ties to the UK, said he had a portfolio of properties around Surrey and west London. He had also set up two gourmet Indian restaurants in the UK and was an active member of the tennis club for five years.

Peter Jamieson, the club’s chairman, told the court Mr Kohli “doted on” the child despite harbouring doubts about her paternity. “There were times when he believed she was his, and times when he did not, but it didn’t matter,” he said. “He loved her and took her on unquestionably — whether or not she was his daughter — because he was a very generous man.”

Ms Proles, of Weybridge, admitted Mr Kohli had not been present at the birth. They had been living together but she moved out six months before the birth, the court heard.

"Mrs Kohli insisted her marriage had not ended and told the court they had taken a romantic balloon ride when she visited him in Weybridge in 2014."

Ms Rosen Peacocke said: “At best, Ms Proles’ evidence suggests that he enjoyed something of a double life. He remained engaged with, and provided for, his family in India, while forming friendships and having romances in England. Mrs Kohli contends that a ‘double life’ is insufficient to constitute the deliberate and unequivocal abandonment of a domicile of origin.”

The hearing continues.