Delhi businessman, nine others seek share in former Faridkot ruler’s Rs 25,000-crore property

A businessman from Delhi, Sardar Gurpreet Singh, and nine others have approached the Chandigarh District Courts seeking their share in properties worth over Rs 25,000 crore of a former ruler of Faridkot, Harinder Singh Brar.

Claiming to be the “legal beneficiaries” of Rajkumari Maheep Inder Kaur, one of the three daughters of Brar, they have filed an execution petition before the court.

The claimants said Brar had three daughters — Amrit Kaur, Deepinder Kaur and Maheep Inder Kaur — and a son.

They said after Brar’s death, the following “class one heirs were alive and available to inherit his property in an equal share of 25 per cent per person”.

They were Maharani Mohinder Kaur (mother) and daughters Amrit Kaur, Deepinder Kaur and Maheep Inder Kaur.

They said Maheep Inder Kaur died on July 26, 2001, leaving the last will, dated December 11, 1995.

They said they had filed an execution plea for 25 per cent share in the properties by virtue of her will and other supporting documents.

Besides the will, the claimants have also submitted an irrevocable assignment deed and affidavit, dated December 11, 1995, and a registered power of attorney and affidavit, dated March 19, 1998.

Earlier, Amrinder Singh, grandson of Kanwar Manjit Inder Singh, brother of Brar, had filed an execution petition before the court for distributing his 33.33 per cent share in the properties after the issue was finally decided by the Supreme Court. His petition is still pending before the court.

Brar was the last ruler of the erstwhile princely state of Faridkot. His son, Tikka Harmohinder Singh, died in 1981.

After his son’s death, Brar slipped into depression. The king died on October 16, 1989.

One of his daughters, Amrit Kaur, filed a civil suit in the Chandigarh District Courts in 1992 challenging the will executed by the king and questioning its authenticity. Another suit was filed by Kanwar Manjit Inder Singh through legal heirs.

In 2013, the Chandigarh District Courts declared the will in favour of the Maharawal Khewaji Trust as illegal, non-existence and void, and granted inheritance to Brar’s daughters.

In June 2020, the Punjab and Haryana High Court upheld a Chandigarh court’s order while granting shares to the family of the king’s brother also.

Later, the Supreme Court upheld the order in September 2022. The properties of the king include Raj Mahal in Faridkot, spread over 14 acres, Qila Mubarak in Faridkot, Faridkot House in New Delhi (located on prime land on Copernicus Marg) and a plot in Sector 17, Chandigarh, besides a fort at Mani Majra

Several other properties of the king are situated in other parts of the country. The claimants also prayed for a direction for the preparation of an inventory of all properties to carry out their valuation so that the 25 per cent share can be given to the decree holder in accordance with the law.