INDIA:India is set to resolve a dispute over the ownership of a Pakistani ruler's money, lying in a London bank since 1948, writes Rahul Bediin New Delhi.
INDIA HAS opted for an out-of-court settlement with Pakistan and the heirs of the nizam (ruler) of Hyderabad state, once the world's richest man, to resolve a six-decade-long dispute over a million-pound bank deposit.
The disputed amount, lying in a London bank since 1948, is believed to have grown to about £30 million.
Known as the "Hyderabad Funds Case", the story centres on £1,007,940 and nine shillings which was transferred in September 1948, a year after India's independence, from the nizam to Habib Ibrahim Rahimtoola, then high commissioner in London of the newly-formed Pakistan.
As the Muslim ruler of the south Indian principality wavered over which of the two states Hyderabad should join, his finance minister surreptitiously signed over the money to the Pakistani diplomat's account in London.
The furious nizam's subsequent cable to re-transfer the funds was not complied with, leading to arbitration in the British courts.
Soon after, the Indian army annexed landlocked Hyderabad, which is now the capital of Andhra Pradesh state.
In 1957, the case reached the House of Lords, which ruled that the dispute could only be resolved by agreement between all involved parties, which never happened.
The nizam's eldest grandson, Prince Mukarram Jah, now living in a small apartment in Istanbul after having lost most of his family fortune, once said that he could not afford a lawyer to negotiate with the London bank. But India's federal cabinet last week approved an out-of-court settlement with Pakistan and the nizam's descendants to be negotiated within an 18-month time frame, science minister Kapil Sibal announced.
"We decided to restart the negotiation process with Pakistan to know how much the private beneficiaries should get and what would be the distribution between the two governments," Sibal said.
The case, however, is complicated by the late nizam having sired more than 100 illegitimate children from 86 mistresses, who would doubtless also lay claim to the fortune as rightful beneficiaries. Claims by Prince Jah's many wives could further complicate matters.
The nizam's surviving 173-piece jewel collection, which is periodically displayed at various museums across India, includes the legendary 187.75 carat Jacob diamond, the fifth-largest diamond in the world, valued at more than £100 million.
The seventh and last nizam found the duck-egg-sized diamond hidden in his father's slippers and used it as a paperweight.
The dazzling display also includes strings of rare grey pearls, brooches, buckles and serpechs - turban ornaments worn by Indian princes as a mark of high distinction - studded with rubies, emeralds and diamonds.
One paisley-shaped serpech is encrusted with six large Colombian emeralds set amid a cluster of diamonds, which alone weigh over 300 carats.
The collection, which covers the period spanning the 18th to the early 20th century, was considered so large at the time of India's independence in 1947 that it was believed its pearls alone could cover the pavements of London's Piccadilly Circus like a carpet.
The owner of this wealth, however, was a miser who dressed like a tramp, wearing crumpled pyjamas and a tattered fez, and ate his meals off a tin plate.