Maharaja Hari Singh’s mammoth legacy including a treasure worth Rs 100,000 crores have reportedly gone missing according to the information sought under Right to Information Act by Bashir Assad, an activist.
Maharaja’s valuable treasures which nobody claims to have possession of includes diamonds, rubies, crowns, bangles, robes and watches. Transiting between the Jammu and Srinagar Toshkhanas (treasuries), after Maharaja Hari Singh left Kashmir in 1947, the riches have mysteriously disappeared or are hey still lying with the government?
Interestingly, the Treasury officials are clueless of where is the priceless treasure? “We do not know of any such treasure. You should probably ask the state government,” a Jammu and Kashmir Toshkhana official wishing anonymity said.
Reportedly, the government had made a list of all the items which included necklaces, diamonds , rubies, emeralds etc in 1983 when the Maharaja appointed treasury officer Iqbal Nath was away from Kashmir.
At that time, a French expert Sotheby Reyner was brought in to evaluate the jewels whose cost was summed up at Rs 500 crores back then.
The most expensive item was found to be a diamond necklace which was worth Rs 1.02 lakh back then. The treasure had apparently hundreds of uncut diamonds and pearls. In 1947 some eight trucks of the Maharaja’s jewel possessions were left behind in Jammu Toshkhana which was later shifted to Srinagar in 1951. Some retired officials even say that a part of the treasure was utilised for financial stability by the government of India after Indo-China War of 1962. The official records of the presence of these jewels in the government treasuries have been maintained till 1983 but after that there is no clue of the same.
Pertinently, right from Sheikh Abdullah’s government to his successors, there were discourses of the treasure being auctioned and the money being used for development projects all over the state but the same has not happened ill date.
Even, Dr. Karan Singh, Maharaja Hari Singh’s son claimed his right on the treasure, which the Supreme Court of India did not approve of. Seemingly, the state government still continues to be the custodian of this priceless legacy. However, little do the people of Kashmir know about it.
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