08-11-2021, 08:00 AM
Amrit Dhillon
Published: 5:00pm, 7 Nov, 2021
A US$1 billion fortune left behind by a 19th century Muslim shipping magnate who built a guest house for pilgrims to Mecca is being fought over by two feuding families in India.
The money has been lying in a Saudi Arabian coffer for decades due to the inability of both the Saudi and Indian governments to adjudicate which of the two families, who live within a few miles of each other in Kannur, Kerala, has the rightful claim.
At the heart of the dispute between the Keyi family, who number around 1,500, and the formerly royal Arakkals, is whether the Muslim spice trader Mayankutty Keyi – who married into the Arakkal family – had any children or not.
Both families have been lobbying the Saudi government for the money but the Saudis, confused by the conflicting claims, have had to ask government after government in India whose claim is genuine. New Delhi, for its part, has been unable to help as it is equally baffled.
The dispute reaches back to the 1870s
Interesting read with map and photos at: https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/ar...y-shipping
Published: 5:00pm, 7 Nov, 2021
A US$1 billion fortune left behind by a 19th century Muslim shipping magnate who built a guest house for pilgrims to Mecca is being fought over by two feuding families in India.
The money has been lying in a Saudi Arabian coffer for decades due to the inability of both the Saudi and Indian governments to adjudicate which of the two families, who live within a few miles of each other in Kannur, Kerala, has the rightful claim.
At the heart of the dispute between the Keyi family, who number around 1,500, and the formerly royal Arakkals, is whether the Muslim spice trader Mayankutty Keyi – who married into the Arakkal family – had any children or not.
Both families have been lobbying the Saudi government for the money but the Saudis, confused by the conflicting claims, have had to ask government after government in India whose claim is genuine. New Delhi, for its part, has been unable to help as it is equally baffled.
The dispute reaches back to the 1870s
Interesting read with map and photos at: https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/ar...y-shipping