Royal Mess

The dispute, of course, is not just over the Gaekwads8217; property, which, by itself, is an embarrassment of riches. The value of the land around the Laxmi Vilas palace is estimated at around Rs 2,000 crore. There8217;s more. Like paintings from the Renaissance period, antiques, bronze sculptures, ivory carvings, more than 165 kg of gold and over 37,000 kg of silver! And the icing on the cake? Diamonds such as the 125 carat Star of the South, The Akbar Shah and Empress Eugenie. The total worth of just the heirlooms, including tiaras and crowns, is pegged at Rs 5.17 crore, and we haven8217;t even started talking of the family8217;s other possessions including property and vintage cars the diamonds have not been evaluated recently. Sangramsinh8217;s petition names only those properties and jewellery that were listed in the family8217;s tax returns.

The protagonist here is Sangramsinh, the bearded 60-year-old scion, who runs the troubled Surat-based Baroda Rayon Corporation, and who left the palace well over two decades ago. The first legal case was filed by Sangramsinh two years after the death of Fatehsinh. The scion, the only one among the siblings to be born at the palace, wants no less than half the share. But the family has disowned him and made it sufficiently clear that they have nothing to do with Sangramsinh, who stays in a 3,000-sq-feet flat on Mumbai8217;s Bhulabhai Road with his wife Asharaje of Nepal.

The man who started it all blames his elder sister Mrunalinidevi Puar, who was married to the Maharaja of Dhar in 1950 but returned to the palace within a month of the marriage. The fight, a relative of Sangramsinh maintains, was never against his mother Shantadevi, who died last year, but who was dragged to the court in 1991 because the properties were in her name.

Finally, when her will became public, Sangramsinh found his name missing from the list of beneficiaries. Sangramsinh8217;s suit terms the will as fabricated and questions Shantadevi8217;s right to draw up a will, contending that royals are not governed by the Hindu Succession Act, and family customs since the 17th century don8217;t allow women to inherit property. 8220;Though he is a scion, he does not own a single inch of land,8221; maintains Jethmalani. According to Sangramsinh8217;s petition, on her return from Dhar, Mrunalinidevi was appointed on the board of several of the Gaekwad-run trusts. Later, 8220;as a mark of respect8221;, she was also made the director of the Gaekwad-run Alaukik Trading and Investment Corporation. Mrunalinidevi is accused of taking over the directorship in spite of her not possessing any shares, and of manipulating the shareholding pattern. Sangramsinh also accuses Mrunalinidevi as being the cause of many other ills, one among them being her wangling of the chancellorship of the

MS University, a premier seat of learning in Gujarat.

Along with Mrunalinidevi who has stayed in the palace ever since her failed marriage, the other occupants include Ranjitsinh, the present maharaja, his wife, and their son and daughter-in-law.

Relations between Sangramsinh and his siblings are so strained that his request to hold his daughter8217;s marriage at the palace8212;she finally married Jyotiraditya Scindia in Delhi8212;was disallowed. While the scion claims that he was not even allowed entry into the palace on the occasion of his mother8217;s death, brother Ranjitsinh, a former Congress MP, says, 8220;In fact, he refused to be one of the pall bearers and did not even stay in Baroda.8221;

8220;And what is this about Sangramsinh declining the chancellorship of the MS University in my favour?8221; asks Ranjitsinh. 8220;Nobody told me this before, I am hearing this for the first time,8221; says Ranjitsinh, dismissing the allegations.

States Sangramsinh8217;s petition: 8220;Mrs Puar has crossed all levels of humanity. She never allowed mother Shantadevi to meet Sangramsinh. On several occasions before variousforums, talks of settlement were initiated, but Mrs Puar always succeeded in seeing that no meeting took place.8221; Among the other accusations levelled by Sangramsinh, one talks about the family in residence melting a gold cannon despite a court stay, in response to the partition suit. 8220;Maybe, we did but what proof does he have?8221; asks Ranjitsinh. While those close to Sangramsinh say he was in favour of a compromise from day one, the other side says he should withdraw the court cases first for the talks to even begin.

Says Asharaje about the family8217;s indifference towards her husband, 8220;Naturally, he misses his days in the palace. They made our lives miserable.8221; It looks fairly obvious that this, barring an unlikely compromise, is set to become a long drawn out dispute. One that will sully not only the reputations of the people involved, but also ruin the egalitarian atmosphere of the Laxmi Vilas palace, whose erstwhile occupants built a studio specially for classical painter Raja Ravi Varma.

Blue-Blood Feuds

GWALIOR: The Rajmata of Gwalior and senior BJP leader Vijayraje Scindia had, in her will, deprived her only son, late Madhavrao Scindia, of a share in her property. She handed over most of it to a trust with one-fifth going to public charity. Vijayaraje, who died on January 25, 2001, had fallen out with Madhavrao during the Emergency in 1977 when he joined the Congress. In her will, she also deprived him of the right to perform her last rites.

JAIPUR: The flamboyant Bhawani 8216;8216;Bubbles8217;8217; Singh, Maharaja of Jaipur, sparked a bitter feud over who should control his family8217;s pound; 400 million assets by naming his five-year-old grandson as his heir. Bhawani Singh, 71, adopted his daughter8217;s son Padmanabh, and named him as his heir last year. His brothers took the matter to court saying Bhawani had broken an ancient Rajput tradition by failing to name an heir from the male line.

HYDERABAD: A seven-year-long dispute brewed over the sharing of proceeds from the sale of the famed jewellery collection of the former nizam. The Indian Government had acquired the 173-piece collection for Rs 2.18 billion and handed over the money to the Nizam8217;s Jewellery Trust NJT in 1995. As grandson of the seventh nizam, Mukarram Jah was entitled to the lion8217;s share. The dispute arose over the sharing of about Rs 600 million among approximately 2,000 beneficiaries. Last year, Jah8217;s lawyers reached a separate understanding with the litigants.