E-Paper
Nainital driver seeks licence to get back Jim Corbett gun gifted to grandfather
The grandson of Jim Corbett’s close associate Sher Singh Negi said that the gun will soon be displayed to tourists once he gets the arms licence
British hunter and naturalist Jim Corbett’s gun, which he gifted to his close associate Sher Singh Negi in Uttarakhand’s Kumaon before leaving India after Independence in 1947, will soon be displayed to tourists again after a gap of three years, said Negi’s grandson.
The gun was voluntarily surrendered by Sher Singh Negi’s grandson Mohit Negi at the Kaladhungi police station in Nainital district after his father Trilok Singh Negi died in 2009. Mohit on Tuesday said that he has now applied for an arms licence to possess the gun and it will be displayed to the tourists as before.
“I have applied to the district magistrate for an arm licence to get the register of Corbett’s historical gun in my name following inheritance. Once I get the licence, I will try to release the gun. It is an important heritage of my family,” said 32-year-old Mohit Negi.
“Jim Corbett gifted his gun to my grandfather while leaving India after Independence. My grandfather kept the gun as a memory of Corbett Sahib. After his death my father Trilok Singh Negi got the gun registered. He used to display it to the tourists as a memory of Corbett,” he said.
“My father passed away in 2019 and due to tough proceedings in getting an arms licence, I preferred to surrender the gun in Kaladhungi police station. Since then, the gun has been lying in the police station,” he added.
Mohit is not financially sound and runs a hired taxi for his livelihood. He said that even though tourists used to visit his house to see the gun, it was not possible for him and his family to maintain the gun and to get the licence due to the financial crunch, .
“The members of the Kaladhungi Gram Vikas Samiti, an NGO that works for boosting tourism in Kaladhungi, used to bring tourists to our house who wanted to have a glimpse of the gun. My father used to charge ₹10 per head at that time,” said Mohit.
The office bearers of the samiti wanted him to get the licence to release the gun so that tourists can be attracted to Kaldhungi. The Samiti members are helping in the licensing process, he said.
Rajkumar Pandey, president, Kaladhungi Gram Vikas Samiti said, “If the historical gun is released and brought to the village, it will not only attract the tourists but also cater to employment for the villagers.”
“It is an old model single barrel gun. Corbett used to shoo away wild animals from the village by firing with this gun. Gunpowder was used in the gun instead of cartridges,” said Mohit.
On July 25, Jim Corbett’s 147th birthday was celebrated by Corbett Gram Vikas Samiti at his house in Kaladhungi, Nainital, which is now maintained as a museum by the forest department. The year 2022 marks a century of the construction of Jim Corbett’s house. In 1922 Corbett built a cottage for himself and his family on the lines of his house in Nainital. Before leaving for Kenya in 1947, he handed over this house to a friend Chiranjee La.
