Electoral to property battles: Bikaner princess Siddhi Kumari comes a long way

The sitting Bikaner (East) BJP legislator has filed a case against her aunt Rajyashree Kumari for her attempts to grab property using forged documents.

Jaipur: Royal family intrigues fascinate, especially in Rajasthan, where there is still reverence for royalty of different erstwhile states. And when the dispute is over property and wealth running into several crores, needless to say it piques curiosity.

A property dispute involving Bikaner royal family has taken centre-stage after Bikaner princess and Bikaner (East) BJP legislator Siddhi Kumari, 52, filed a case on January 3 against her aunt Rajyashree Kumari, for her attempts to grab property using forged documents and also conspiring to defame her publicly.

The FIR also names Rajesh Purohit, Gaurav Binani, Pukhraj and Ritu Choudhary, a Congress leader, who was made incharge of Bikaner during the recent elections.

Meanwhile Rajyashree Kumari, 70, challenges the will and says most properties mentioned in the poll affidavit are disputed.

It all began when three-term MLA Siddhi Kumari filed her affidavit for contesting for the fourth time from Bikaner (East). It turned out that she was the richest candidate in the fray for the Rajasthan Assembly elections held in 2023. Her affidavit revealed that her wealth has increased manifold over the past five years, from Rs 4.62 crores in 2018 to over Rs 102 crores in 2023.

Siddhi Kumari is supposed to have inherited a substantial portion of her grandmother Susheela Devi’s property worth over Rs 80 crore. Susheela Devi died in March last year after a prolonged illness. Siddhi Kumari, who keeps a low-profile as a politician, is not very accessible and not a favourite amongst her voters, Initially there were doubts about her getting the ticket this time but she managed to win, fourth time in a row. Her name was in the reckoning for chief minister and ministerial post, none of which materialised.

Rajyashree Kumar, an ace shooter and a former national champion and Congress leader Ritu Choudhary, had filed complaints before the Election Commission, alleging misrepresentation of wealth and property details in the poll affidavit. In turn Siddhi Kumari in her complaint says these people tried to defame her and the Bikaner royal family’s reputation.

Rajyashree Kumari, who is the daughter of Dr Karni Singh, says the will left by her mother Susheela Devi, is registered in Mumbai. And wills registered in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, which need to be read out, have to be probated in High Court. But the probate process has not been followed in this case, yet the contents of the will have been included in the poll affidavit, which is in total violation of law. The probate process is a court-supervised proceeding in which the authenticity of the will left behind is proven to be valid and accepted as the true last testament of the deceased.

In her poll affidavit, Siddhi Kumari cites 73.5 bigha of forest land worth over Rs 18.41 crore in village Jamwar in Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh, which she is supposed to have received from her maternal grandparents’ side. She has also cited her shares in the commercial building of Prachina Sangrahlaya Junagadh in Bikaner, whose worth is over Rs 3.67 crore.

Philanthropist Rajyashree Kumari, who runs the heritage Lalgarh Palace, which has been turned into a hotel, says that the commercial use of Prachina Museum located in the Junagarh Fort is in gross violation of the law as the property is residential in nature. She also says she owns 25 per cent of the property and as it is a disputed property, whose case is pending in court, and that citing it in the poll affidavit is misleading.

Rajyshree Kumari, who was said to have been offered a Congress ticket this time but refused, has come out with a video saying the frivolous charges filed against her are completely false and shameful. She says “We are hard-working people and we have handed over the case to our legal team.”

These property disputes are part and parcel of almost every royal family of Rajasthan.

After Jaipur Rajmata Gayatri Devi’s death in 2009, her late son Jagat Singh’s children Devraj Kumar and Lalitya Kumari alleged that Rajmata’s step son Prithviraj Singh disinherited them. The property disputed included their father Jagat Singh’s shares in Jai Mahal Hotels (99.9%), Ram Bagh Palace Hotels (25%), Sawai Madhopur Lodge (10 %) and SMS Investment Corporation (15%).

In 2021, the protracted legal battle was settled amicably through a mediator appointed by the Supreme Court. Devraj Singh and Lalitya Kumari got Jai Mahal Palace and their step-uncles Jai Singh and Visit Singh got Rambagh Palace. All these palaces are now world-renowned luxury five star heritage properties, run by the Taj group.