Royal inheritance battle: Prosecute those who 'forged' Faridkot Maharaja's will, demands his daughter Amrit Kaur

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, September 9

Amrit Kaur, one of the beneficiaries in the property of late Maharaja Harinder Singh Brar of Faridkot, is continuing her fight against 23 persons, who had allegedly forged Maharaja’s will to divest her of rights in the property.

On the complaint of Amrit Kaur, the Faridkot police had registered a criminal case against 23 persons, including a grandson of the Maharaja and several lawyers, in June 2020 for alleged forging of the Maharaja’s will under Sections 465, 467, 468 471, 420, 120-B of the IPC. As per the will, the Maharaja had bequeathed his entire property to the Maharawal Khewaji Trust, which is looking after the properties since 1989. Deepinder Kaur, the second legal heir of the property, was the chairperson of the Trust before her death in November 2018. She was married in former princely estate of Bardhaman in West Bengal.

Amrit Kaur, the elder sister of Deepinder Kaur, was in a protracted legal tussle with the Trust over her claim on the property.

In the last 10 years of her legal fight, Amrit Kaur (89) was successful in proving in four judicial courts (from the CJM court in Faridkot to the Supreme Court) that the “will” of her father was a fake document.

Interestingly, sometime after registering a criminal case against 23 persons for the alleged offence of ‘forging’ Maharaja’s will on the complaint of Amrit Kaur, the police had approached the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate here and sought the cancellation of the FIR. On the basis of its investigation, the police claimed there was no prima facie offence against the accused in forging the will, so the FIR must be cancelled.

Opposing police’s move, Amrit Kaur got her statement recorded in the District Courts, Mohali, some time back. The Mohali court recorded her statement as she had expressed her inability and helplessness to appear in person in the court at Faridkot by travelling all the way from Chandigarh as she suffered from various age-related ailments. Amrit Kaur is a resident of Chandigarh.

Now, the Faridkot court has fixed the case for September 19 for the appearance of the police officials who moved the cancellation report.

All accused in this case are highly influential persons, which include a retired judicial officer, a former chairman of the Faridkot Improvement Trust and some lawyers.

The Supreme Court, on Wednesday, had awarded the majority share in the Rs 25,000-crore assets of the erstwhile Maharaja of Faridkot to his daughters, Amrit Kaur and Deepinder Kaur.

Cops gave them clean chit

• After registering a criminal case against 23 persons for the alleged offence of ‘forging’ Maharaja’s will, the police had approached the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate seeking the cancellation of the FIR
• On the basis of its investigation, the police claimed there was no prima facie offence against the accused in forging the will, so the FIR should be cancelled
• The Faridkot court has fixed the case for September 19 for the appearance of the police officials who moved the cancellation report

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