Reclusive Awadh prince dies a pauper in decrepit 14-century Delhi lodge
Prince Ali Raza died on September 2 following a brief illness. He was found dead on the floor near his wooden bed when some staff members from the ISRO station next door entered the Mahal to check on him.
Hindustan Times
Prince Ali Raza shifted to Malcha Mahal with his mother, Begum Wilayat Mahal, the descendant of the Nawab of Awadh, his sister princess Sakina, a dozen labradors, and a few servants, on May 28,1985.
Prince Ali Raza shifted to Malcha Mahal with his mother, Begum Wilayat Mahal, the descendant of the Nawab of Awadh, his sister princess Sakina, a dozen labradors, and a few servants, on May 28,1985.(Sanchit Khanna / HT Photo)
The Malcha Mahal, hidden under thick foliage deep inside the central Ridge along the Sardar Patel Marg, has lost its last royal occupant — Prince Ali Raza (Cyrus).
On May 28, 1985, he had shifted there with his mother, Begum Wilayat Mahal, the descendant of the Nawab of Awadh or Oudh, his sibling princess Sakina, 11 labradors, and a few servants. After squatting at the waiting room of New Delhi Railway station for a decade, the Begum got what she demanded from the Indian government — a palace for her royal family.
Raza, 58, died on September 2 following a brief illness, said Vijay Yadav, a staff at Delhi Earth Station of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The Earth station is situated next to the Mahal — a hunting lodge constructed by Feroz Shah Tughlaq in the late 14th century. Yadav and his colleagues informed the police about Raza’s death.
He was found dead on the floor near his rickety wooden bed placed in the porch on September 2, when a group of ISRO staff entered the Mahal to check on him.
Prince Raza was found dead on September 2 on the floor near his wooden bed placed in the porch. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Photo)
“We had not heard from him for two-three days. So, we went inside without his permission for the first time. He had died by then,” Yadav said.
The police said as no one had turned up to claim the body, he was buried on September 5 at Delhi Gate graveyard on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg.
