A Mumbai-born investor now settled in Canada has finally won a 31-year legal battle over missing Kotak Mahindra share certificates, with the Bombay High Court directing the bank to transfer the shares and all related corporate benefits in his favour.

What began as a Rs 39,700 investment in 1994 snowballed into a decades-long courtroom dispute involving missing physical certificates, destroyed flood records, duplicate share claims, bonus shares, stock splits and disputed ownership.