Gayatri Devi's successor fight government for 800 Kg Gold

Gayatri Devi's successor approached the Delhi High Court for getting back nearly 800 kg of gold seized by the government in 1975. The gold, listed as the private property of Gayatri Devi's husband, the late Maharaja Sawai Man Singh, was seized by the Income Tax (IT) department as the family had not declared it to the authorities as stipulated by the Gold Control Act, 1968. Challenging the Gold Control Administrator's (Delhi) 1980 order, Man Singh's successor and eldest son Brig. (retd) Sawai Bhawani Singh, in his petition, contended: 'There was no reason for us to believe that the entire gold had not been declared under the Gold Control Act.'

The erstwhile Jaipur royal family had also lost a legal battle in 2002 when a local court in Jaipur ruled that the gold confiscated from the royal fort was part of a hidden treasure and, under the Indian Treasure Trove Act, 1878, the ownership of any hidden treasure lies with the state government. Members of the former royal family maintained that the fort was part of the family's private property and no one should have any claim over it.