FROM taking on the imperious Indira Gandhi during the Emergency to challenging the Congress in three consecutive elections, Jaipur’s Gayatri Devi has fought several memorable battles. This one, though, is one she would have preferred to shy away from.

On the eve of her 90th birthday, the mighty Kachchawah queen of yesteryears faces her toughest adversary: Her grandson Devraj Singh. At stake are crores of rupees in royal inheritance.

The 25-year-old, who has spent almost all his life with his mother in Thailand, adds a fresh twist to an old war among the survivors of Sawai Man Singh II, the former ruler of Jaipur.

Till recently, the entire family was united in its 35-year-long legal wrangles with Bhawani ‘Bubbles’ Singh, the king’s eldest son, and the self-proclaimed successor to both the crown and the property. Devraj’s case against Gayatri Devi in the Company Law Board, seeking a share in his father Jagat Singh’s property, marks the first chink in her faction.

Palace Intrigues

AT the core of the current dispute is the sprawling Jai Mahal Palace in Jaipur, which is currently being run as a five-star hotel by the Taj Group under a lease agreement. According to Devraj, the palace—estimated to be worth Rs 400 crore—had been gifted to his father by Sawai Man Singh II through a gift deed.

‘‘My father held 99 per cent shares in the hotel prior to his death,’’ he says. ‘‘The status was altered unilaterally after his death. More than 93 per cent shares were illegally transferred in the name of my father’s foster brother Prithvi Raj Singh and his children.’’

... contd.