Jaipur royals fight it out in public

Jaipur: At a prayer meeting held to commemorate the first death anniversary of Jaipur's Rajmata Gayatri Devi, the battle lines in the Jaipur royal property dispute were clearly evident.

The prayer meeting organised by Rajmata's grandchildren was not attended by their step uncles who are engaged in a legal wrangle with them.

The prayer meet turned ugly when the Rajmata's grandson spoke out against the bitter legal battle in the family over the Rajamata's legacy.

"Now it's just a nuisance that I have to fight to get back my rights , nuisance from my uncles ... He has no authority to serve me the notice that Lilypool belonged to Rajmata sahib and she gave it to me," said Devraj, Rajmata Gayatri Devi's grandson.

The dispute is over Lilypool , the French style bungalow which is now worth crores where Rajmata used to live and other valuable antiques that she is believed to have collected.

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A recent report that antiques, including carpets worth crores being stolen from Lilypool, perturbed Rajamata's step sons who have served an eviction notice on Devraj and Lalitya.

"Rambagh is the owner and Rajmata was just a tenant and as a tenant Devraj and Lalitya have no rights over anything," said B D Garg, advocate , Prithvi Singh.

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Rajmata's stepsons Prithvi and Jai Singh are worried that Devraj might sell Lilypool and return to Thailand where his mother lives.

In the entire battle for family property, though Prithvi Singh and Jai Singh have many supporters, Devraj, Rajmata's grandson may find himself alone.

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Amidst all in this royal family, Devaraj has the support of only one man, his uncle. Brigadier Bhawani Singh who is his father's eldest step brother and former Maharaja of Jaipur  is the only one to have come out in his support.