A hyderabad man has emerged as the "owner" of the famous taj mahal, one of the seven wonders of the modern world, which was constructed by the 17th-century Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in honor of his devoted wife, mumtaz Mahal, amid the heated controversy surrounding Mughal reign in India.
 
Owner of the Taj Mahal
The man is a native of hyderabad named prince Yakub Habeebuddin Tucy, who says he is the sixth-generation heir of bahadur shah zafar, the final Mughal emperor.  As the only surviving Mughal in india with direct family relations to bahadur shah zafar and descended from Shah Jahan, the man who constructed the famous monument, prince Tucy, the Mutawalli, or curator of Mughal ruler Aurangzeb's grave, asserts that he is the "rightful owner" of the Taj Mahal.
 
In order to demonstrate his Mughal heritage and purported ownership of the taj mahal, prince Tucy has even provided the courts with his dna tests.

Prince Tucy and Controversies
Notably, the purported royal successor has already made headlines for the wrong reasons.  Tucy previously asserted that he was the rightful owner of the site where ram mandir and babri masjid were constructed, citing a property dispute and his purported lineage from Mughal monarch babur as proof.
 
"We have issued an order to Waqf board, that it is not their property. It is a property issue and if turns out to be Babur's property, then we are the owners of it. And, as the owner of the property, we don't have any issue with the ram temple being built there. Not only will I present a golden brick, I will also hand over the entire land for construction of the temple," he had said in an interview.

Prince Tucy also asked Princess diya Kumari, the bjp leader and deputy chief minister of Rajasthan, who had claimed to hold taj mahal documents in 2019, to produce them to him if she was a "true Rajput."
 
Show the paperwork if you do have them in your pothikhana. "Show those documents if you have any Rajput blood at all," he had demanded.
 
In light of the recent controversy surrounding Mughal ruler aurangzeb and the subsequent vandalism of his tomb in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, Tucy petitioned the President of india to issue directives to the State government or the government of india to safeguard aurangzeb Alamgir's monument and grave.

Royal 'fakers'
It's important to remember that this is not the first time that someone has legitimately claimed the property of long-dead kings and queens by claiming royal ancestry.  The notorious Malcha Mahal case, in which a woman claimed to be Begum Wilayat Mahal, the descendent of the Nawab of Awadh, is a recent example.  Her assertions were ultimately shown to be untrue.
 
The main distinction between prince Tucy's case and previous ones, though, is that he has provided his dna profile to support his legal claim.
 
By the way, there is a real-life descendent of bahadur shah zafar in India. She is an impoverished woman named Sultana Begum, and she lives in the slums of Kolkata, West Bengal, despite having royal ancestry.
 
 
 

 
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SIBY JEYYA

08/04/2025 10:02 AM