Ali Raza, who claimed to be a royal descendent of the Nawab of Awadh, was found dead in Malcha Mahal — a lodge deep inside the ridge forest in central Delhi on 2 September, according to a Hindustan Times report on Tuesday.
Raza had moved in there on 28 May 1985, along with his mother, Begum Wilayat Mahal, sibling princess Sakina, 11 labrador dogs, and a few servants after spending a decade in the waiting room of the New Delhi Railway Station.
The 58-year-old was reportedly suffering from a prolonged illness and was found dead on the floor by a group of ISRO staff members who work at the Delhi Earth Station situated next to the Mahal.
“We had not heard from him for over two-three days. So, we went inside without his permission for the first time. He had died by then,” Vijay Yadav, who works at the Delhi Earth Station, told Hindustan Times.
“No one had turned up to claim his body, he was buried on 5 September at Delhi Gate graveyard on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg,” the police was quoted as saying.
The Last Royals of Awadh
After arriving in Delhi, Begum Wilayat Mahal asked the Indian government to compensate her for the British taking over all the properties of the nawab after overthrowing him in 1856, The Times of India reported.
“Mahal was offered a flat by the DDA,” Anil Chandra, a resident of Malcha Marg in Lutyens’ Delhi told TOI. “But she had refused to settle for anything less than a palace. And a palace was indeed given to her, only a 14th-century one.”
The shikargah or a hunting lodge was believed to have been built by Sultan Ferozeshah Tughlaq. The HT report added that Malcha Mahal had no electricity election.
The Begum committed suicide in December 1993, at the age of 62, by allegedly drinking a concoction laced with crushed diamonds. Raza’s sister Sakina also passed away a few years back.
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