The Will To Pelf

There’s a new twist to the 12-year-old battle between the scions of the Gaekwad royal family of Baroda for property worth thousands of crores—the Laxmi Vilas Palace (alone worth Rs 2,000 crore), besides Renaissance paintings, sculptures, antiques, gold, silver, diamonds and a fleet of vintage cars. Last fortnight a civil court stayed the will of Shantadevi Gaekwad, mother of Fatehsinhrao Gaekwad, the last ruler of the erstwhile Baroda state. Fatehsinhrao’s youngest brother, Sangramsinh, had filed a case when he found his name missing from the family will. He alleged his mother’s will was fabricated after her death last year.