Rare coin of the fifth son of Mughal emperor Aurangazeb goes under the hammer, fetches Rs 56 lakh
Bengaluru, Feb 27: A rare 10.9 gram gold coin of Kam Bakhsh, the fifth son of Mughal emperor Aurangazeb, went under the hammer here, fetching Rs 56 lakh.
Marudhar Arts, a leading numismatic auction house here, held the auction at a price ranging between Rs 45 lakh and Rs 50 lakh, but it was sold for Rs 56 lakh.
Rajendra Maru, the CEO of Marudhar Arts, told PTI the gold 'Mohur' of Bijapur Dar-uz-Zafar mint has a Persian legend and brought in Rs 56 lakh.
He, however, did not disclose the name of the buyer.
"The coin, weighing 10.90 gram, is almost uncirculated. So it's unique," Maru, who is organising the auction, said.
According to a statement on Marudhar Arts' portal, Kam Bakhsh took active part in the wars.
In 1707, he seized the control of the Bijapur fort and declared himself the king.
Gradually, Kam Bakhsh sway extended across much of Deccan winning control over Hyderabad, erstwhile Gulbarga (now Kalaburagi), Shahpur and Wakinkhera.
His inefficiency in handling administration led to the collapse of his kingdom, they said.
The older son of Aurangzeb, Shah Alam Bahadur after taking reins of the Mughal empire took a serious note of Kam Bakhsh striking coins in his name.
In a pitched battle that ensued between the two armies on 13 January 1709, Kam Bakhsh was captured and the next day he died of wounds.
This coin is unusual and important, Marudhar Arts said explaining that coins of Kam Bakhsh are known from a number of mints Bijapur, Ahsanabad, Nusratabad, Haidarabad, Torgal, Gokak, Imtiyazgarh but this combination is not yet recorded for any of these issues.
"We do not know when Kam Bakhsh declared himself the emperor but it must have been sometime in March 1707, soon after the fort of Bijapur came under his control, but we dont know the exact date for this event," the statement said.
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Rape-accused 'godman' Kharat sent to judicial custody till April 14
Nashik (PTI): A court in Maharashtra's Nashik on Wednesday remanded rape-accused self-styled godman Ashok Kharat in a 14-day judicial custody.
Kharat was arrested on March 18 after a 35-year-old woman accused him of repeated rape over a period of three years. Following his arrest, multiple rape complaints were filed against him.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) is conducting a probe against Kharat.
As his police custody ended on Wednesday, he was produced before the court. During the hearing, the SIT sought his judicial custody.
Accordingly, sessions judge B N Ichpurani remanded Kharat in judicial custody till April 14. He will be sent to Nashik Road Central Jail.
Kharat is scheduled to be produced in a court in another case on Thursday.
At least 10 FIRs, eight for alleged sexual assault or exploitation and two for cheating, have been registered against Kharat at Sarkarwada police station in Nashik, while the SIT has received more than 100 complaints over the phone against him.
On Wednesday, an SIT team detained Kharat's son Harshvardhan for questioning from their residence in Karmayogi Nagar here. He was let off at night.
The investigators are also trying to trace Kharat's wife Kalpana in connection with the probe against her husband. She is also named in a cheating case in Ahilyanagar district.
'Godman' Kharat heads a temple trust at Sinnar in Nashik and had several political leaders visit him over the years.
Last week, the SIT visited Kharat's office in Nashik along with a forensic science team, from where they recovered several documents, files and other evidence.
Notably, a 20-feet remote-controlled mechanised snake was also seized from his office. Kharat allegedly used the snake to make his visitors believe that he could control a live snake and thus possessed supernatural powers.
