Battle starts over Rajmata home

(Top) Gayatri Devi; her grandson Devraj Singh. Picture by Surendra Jain Paras

Jaipur, July 23: Maharani Gayatri Devi’s descendants have begun a fight over her home of three decades a week before her second death anniversary.

A court case involving the late Rajmata’s French-style mansion Lilypool, adjacent to the Rambagh Palace Hotel, has now been added to the long list of lawsuits over the Jaipur royals’ Rs 1,000 crore worth of properties.

Lilypool was built in the 1930s and the Rajmata had moved into it in 1978 after the death of her husband Sawai Man Singh II. It was from here that she was taken to hospital, where she died on July 29, 2009.

Rambagh, a Taj group hotel, has now obtained a court stay that bars Gayatri Devi’s grandson Devraj from selling, transferring or mortgaging the house.

The petitioner claims Lilypool is its property and says that Devraj and sister Lalitya stayed there at the time of the Rajmata’s death and continued to occupy it illegally thereafter.

People close to Devraj believe the case was lodged at the behest of Gayatri Devi’s stepson Prithviraj Singh, who has shares in the hotel. Prithviraj, who had been close to the Rajmata and looked after her finances, is fighting a legal battle against Devraj and Lalitya over Gayatri Devi’s will.

The hotel’s petition describes the royal grandchildren as encroachers, claiming the Rajmata alone had permission to reside in Lilypool under a licence deed of January 1, 1978. It claims she paid Rs 3,000 every month as “use and occupation charges”.

Rambagh Palace Hotel has sought Rs 5 lakh per month from Devraj for his stay at Lilypool, set on a 5,700sqm (1.4-acre) plot. It has alleged that Devraj has been showing the property off to prospective buyers since last month.

Devraj’s counsel Ravi Bhojak dismissed the charges. “As far we know, there is no such deed. Lilypool belonged to the Rajmata and, thereafter, belongs to her grandchildren,” he said.

Devraj’s secretary Shakti Singh said: “Can you believe that Devraj would be foolish enough to sell Lilypool? And who would be unwise enough to buy this property worth crores? It is mainly his jittery rivals, especially Prithvirajji, who have filed this suit, sensing that Devraj is determined to live here, come what may.”

The disputed Lilypool Palace where Rajmata Gayatri Devi lived since1978. Picture by Surendra Jain Paras

Surendra Rajpurohit, managing director of Blue Earth Consultants and a man who dabbles in real estate, said: “Lilypool would command a price over Rs 120 crore but, with so many disputes, it will be difficult to sell it.”

Jaipur, however, recently witnessed the sale of a prime property at Rs 190 crore in the heart of the city.

Devraj and Lalitya are now spending a huge amount maintaining the premises, sources said. They have retained the Rajmata’s entire entourage of maids and servants.

Gayatri Devi’s will bequeaths all her property to Devraj and Lalitya but Prithviraj has contested it, saying it was made under duress when she was old, weak and unable to even talk properly.

Prithviraj and his niece Urvashi Devi support a will made by Gayatri Devi’s son Jagat Singh who had, a year before his death in 1997, disinherited his children and left all his property to his mother. If this will is accepted, the properties will be distributed among all members of the royal family except Devraj and Lalitya. The next hearing is on July 28.