Battle royal over Jaipur palace

JAIPUR: Scions of one of the most familiar faces of erstwhile Indian royalty, Gayatri Devi, have taken up cudgels against their grandmother, demanding their share of the estimated Rs 1,000-crore family wealth.

Devraj Singh (25) and Lalitya Kumari (27), children of Gayatri Devi’s only son late Jagat Singh, have dragged her to the Company Law Board. They are demanding that a heritage hotel at Jaipur — Hotel Jai Mahal Palace — which is leased to the Taj Group of Hotels be given to them.

Devraj and Lalitya were born from Jagat’s marriage with Thai princess Priyanandna Rangsitg. After their divorce in 1987, Priyanandna left Jaipur to stay in Bangkok with her children. She remarried a Thai and settled in Bangkok. Jagat Singh died in 1998.

Devraj has had good relations with his grandmother and he, along with his sister, often visited Jaipur and stayed at Lilypool, Gayatri Devi’s Pink City home. After he finished his MBA in UK, Devraj was even expected to return to Jaipur and look after Gayatri Devi’s business interests. And he moved on those lines — living in Moti Dungari, the hill-top fortress where his father used to stay, and studying businesses run by the Jaipur royal family. But he returned to Bangkok since he ran into problems because of his lack of Hindi.

Now, Devraj along with sister Lalitya are back in India to wage the legal battle against their grandmother. Claiming to be the legal heirs of Jagat, they filed a suit in the Company Law Board in Delhi in May against Jai Mahal Hotels Pvt Ltd, which is controlled by Gayatri Devi.