After Udaipur, erstwhile royal families of Bikaner in Rajasthan get embroiled in property dispute

Jaipur: Close on the heels of a dispute of the erstwhile royal family of Udaipur in Rajasthan, another one has surfaced in Bikaner.

Earlier this week, dispute in the erstwhile royal family of Mewar and descendants of glorious Rajput king Maharana Pratap took place when Vishvaraj Singh, new titular head of Mewar, was not allowed to enter the city palace to have 'darshan' of a religious place after his coronation ceremony following his father Mahendra Singh Mewar's death.

Two separate FIRs were registered in Bichwal police station of Bikaner on Tuesday.

One FIR was lodged against BJP MLA from Bikaner East Siddhi Kumari by the company that runs Laxmi Niwas Palace hotel on lease. The second FIR was filed against Siddhi Kumari's aunt Rajyashree Kumari by the treasurer of four trusts whose chairperson is Siddhi Kumari.

There is a property-related dispute between international shooter Rajyashree Kumari, who is the daughter of erstwhile ruler of Bikaner Karni Singh, and her niece Siddhi Kumari, who is Karni Singh's granddaughter and Narendra Singh's daughter.

Both are claiming their rights over the trusts related to property.

Siddhi Kumari was booked in an FIR filed through court by Rajiv Mishra of a company which runs Laxmi Niwas Palace hotel. Mishra alleged that Siddhi Kumari is creating obstacles in running the hotel.

Siddhi Kumari's late father Narendra Singh had signed three lease deeds of 19 years each with the company on June, 15, 1999. Mishra alleged that Siddhi Kumari and her sister Mahima Kumari extorted Rs 4 crore by threatening to cancel the lease deed.

Mishra also alleged that obstacles were created by Siddhi Kumari and Mahima Kumari in the operations of the hotel. He accused the two sisters of demanding Rs 10 crore now.

On the same day, another FIR was registered by Sanjay Sharma, treasurer in four trusts whose chairperson is Siddhi Kumari, against Rajyashree Kumari who is an Arjuna awardee shooter.

Beechwal police station SHO Govind Singh said the FIR by the company was registered on the court's directions while the FIR by Sanjay Sharma against Rajshree Kumari was registered following the SP office's directions.

Both the FIRs were registered on Tuesday.

In the FIR, Sanjay Sharma said after the demise of Karni Singh's wife Sushila Kumari, Siddhi Kumari became the chairperson of four trusts -- Maharaja Ganga Singhji Trust, Karni Charitable Funds Trust, Karni Singh Foundation Trust and Maharani Shri Sushila Kumarji Religious and Charitable Trust.

Siddhi Kumari chaired a meeting of the four trusts on September 11 and 12, 2023 and removed the old members from them.

As all four trusts are registered in the Devasthan Department, therefore, under the provisions of Rajasthan Public Trust, modifying and registering the name of the new Board of Trustees in the records was done.

The amendments made by Siddho Kumari in the trust were accepted by the Assistant Commissioner, Devasthan Department, Bikaner. The names of the old trustees were removed from the records of all the four trusts and the names of the new trustees were added.

Siddhi Kumari formally took charge of the four trusts on May 29 in the authorised office of all the four trusts in Lalgarh Palace complex.

It is alleged in the FIR that before the taking over, the accused took away the goods and documents kept in the trust office and destroyed them with malicious intent.

The FIR was registered against Rajyashree Kumari and others namely Hanuwant Singh, Govind Singh, Rajesh Purohit and Pukhraj.

Reacting to the FIRs, Rajyashree Kumari issued a video statement over the matter, accusing Siddhi Kumari of misusing her political power.

Rajyashri Kumari said the case filed against her is baseless. She said cases are going on in the court and Siddhi Kumari is harassing her by misusing political power.

In the Udaipur dispute, the City Palace is under the control of Mahendra Singh Mewar's younger brother Arvind Singh Mewar.

However, the deadlock ended through dialogue on Wednesday and he was allowed to visit the place in City Palace.