‘Jinxed’ Delhi bungalow may soon get new tenant after 20 years

The two-storey colonial-era bungalow, built in the 1920s, was envisioned as the official residence for Delhi’s chief ministers, but has since acquired notoriety for bringing “bad luck” to its occupants

New Delhi

The bungalow, as seen in 2022. (HT Archive)

After lying largely unoccupied for over two decades, the supposedly “jinxed” bungalow at 33, Sham Nath Marg may soon find a new resident in Delhi’s social welfare minister Ravinder Indraj, according to officials with the Public Works Department (PWD).

While there are small government offices running on the premises, this will make Indraj its first political occupant since 2003, they said. However, while he has visited the building, Indraj is yet to formally accept the proposal, officials said.

The minister currently resides in one of the four bungalows at 8, Raj Niwas Marg, which also houses chief minister Rekha Gupta.

“The minister is looking for an alternative accommodation and this bungalow has also been shown as one of the options. We have informed him about the reputation of this house,” an official said.

Indraj told HT that his office has seen the bungalow, but said there was no confirmed plan to shift to the bungalow in question.

The two-storey colonial-era bungalow, built in the 1920s, was envisioned as the official residence for Delhi’s chief ministers, but has since acquired notoriety for bringing “bad luck” to its occupants. The superstition dates to the time of Delhi’s first CM Chaudhary Brahm Prakash, who moved into the bungalow in 1952 but quit office before completing his term in 1955.

When Delhi’s legislative assembly was revived under the National Capital Territory structure in 1993, the house was allotted to Madan Lal Khurana, the first CM of the new era. But his term, too, was cut short in 1996, after the hawala scandal forced his resignation. That marked the beginning of the house’s “jinx”, whispered about in bureaucratic and political circles.

“Once it got that reputation, no one wanted to touch it. Even senior officers and MLAs started avoiding it,” a second senior PWD official said.

Khurana’s successor, Saheb Singh Verma, wary of the bungalow’s reputation, chose not to move in with his family and used it only as a camp office. He, too, resigned before completing his term. When Sheila Dikshit became chief minister in 1998, she refused to move into the house and instead stayed at her Mathura Road residence. The bungalow then became a venue for official luncheons and press conferences.

The last political figure to live there was then labour minister Deep Chand Bandhu, who famously dispelled the superstition, only to die in 2003 after contracting a severe infection while residing in the house. Since then, the bungalow has seen a revolving door of short-term occupants, including IAS officer Shakti Sinha, who stayed there briefly in 2013, when he opted for voluntary retirement.

Over the years, the PWD tried repurposing the house as a state guest house, but it remained in limbo. In 2015, the Aam Aadmi Party government converted it into the office of the Delhi Dialogue and Development Commission (DDDC), a policy think-tank of the government, but the DDDC was dissolved and its office sealed in 2022.

Officials said the premises are now used by some staff from the lieutenant governor’s office.