E-Paper
Faridkot Royal’s property dispute: BoI takes over investigation of case on forging last maharaja’s will
BoI has issued notice to the members and employees of the trust to appear at the office of the AIG of police, state crime at Mohali on November 7 in person, along with complete record.
The Punjab police bureau of investigation (BoI) has started the investigation into a case of fraud registered against 23 members and employees of Maharawal Khewaji Trust for forging will of the last ruler of the erstwhile princely state of Faridkot, Harinder Singh Brar.
BoI has issued notice to the members and employees of the trust to appear at the office of the assistant inspector general of police, state crime at Mohali on November 7 in person along with the complete record along with the copy of the will, which was prepared on June 1, 1982 by Raja Harinder Singh Brar. The bureau has sought records from 1988, when trust came into existence after the death of the last ruler, to till now.
In August 2020, after the Punjab and Haryana high court ruled that the will of Brar, was forged in favour of the Maharwal Khewaji Trust on June 1, 1982, a case was registered against 23 of its members and employees.
The case of fraud was registered on the complaint of Brar’s younger daughter Amrit Kaur against the 23 trust members, including chairman Jai Chand Mehtab, who is also the son of her elder sister, Deepinder Kaur. The erstwhile ruler’s granddaughter and Mehtab’s sister, Nisha D Kher, who is vice-chairperson of the trust, was also named in the FIR.
However, on June 2, 2021, police approached the court and sought cancellation of the FIR, which was challenged by Amrit Kaur. In August, putting an end to the 30-year-long fight for inheriting the royal riches of Faridkot’s last ruler, the Supreme Court upheld the HC’s order awarding the majority share in the ₹20,000-crore property to his daughters –Amrit Kaur and Deepinder Kaur – and dissolved the Maharawal Khewaji Trust, which had been looking after the properties.
Following SC’s judgment, as district court at Faridkot has refused to accept the cancellation report and directed police to make further investigation into the case.
BoI sent a list of 39 items of record required for investigation. The list included the Tosha Khana register, Asla Khana register, expenditure register, income register regarding all income of trust annually- estate wise, property wise, rent and FDR income- from 1988 to till now and all the statements of bank accounts operated by the trust since 1988. Apart from this, the bureau has sought records of income from the sale of fruits and crops, records of crop sowing, the record of expenditure repair, renovation and maintenance of royal properties. Last month, the district court had stayed the arrest of the trust’s legal advisor Navjot Singh Wahniwal in this case. Fearing arrest, Wahniwal had moved an anticipatory bail application in the court. After this, Amrit Kaur submitted an application seeking a transfer of the case to Chandigarh claiming that the case might be influenced at Faridkot.
