JOIN USIt is a royal bonanza for two daughters of a former maharaja, one they had to wait for over two decades.
A court here has declared a 32-year-old will “forged” and illegal” and granted inheritance of properties and assets worth a whopping Rs 20,000 crore to the two daughters of the erstwhile Maharaja of Faridkot, Harinder Singh Brar.
The properties and assets include the palatial Faridkot House on New Delhi’s Copernicus Marg, a royal palace complex and a fort in Faridkot, a fort in Mani Majra area of Chandigarh, vintage cars (including a Rolls-Royce), an aerodrome in Faridkot spread over 200 acres, and gold and jewellery worth nearly Rs 1,000 crore.
The legal battle for the assets started in 1992 after the ex-maharaja’s daughter Amrit Kaur filed a case in a court here. Following a 21-year-old legal battle, the court of the chief judicial magistrate Rajnish Kumar, ordered on Thursday that the 1981 will, purportedly drawn up by the maharaja, was “forged and fabricated”.
With the judgment, Amrit Kaur and her Kolkata-based sister Deepinder Kaur will inherit the properties and assets of the erstwhile ruler. Brar also had a son, Harmohinder Singh, who died in a road accident in 1981. Following this, Brar went into depression.
In her suit, Amrit Kaur alleged that the will was forged by officials and servants of the ex-ruler at a time when he was in depression.
The will, which gave all his properties and assets to the Meharwal Khewaji Trust, was registered in 1982. The trust had some of his servants on board, while his two daughters were appointed chairperson and vice-chairperson for a mere Rs 1,200 and Rs 1,000 per month.
Following the death of the erstwhile ruler in 1989, the trustees took control of all the properties and assets.