Descendant of Mughal emperors stakes claim to Taj Mahal
AFP, New Delhi
A descendant of India's Mughal emperors has staked a claim to ownership of the world's most famous monument to love, the Taj Mahal, amid a row between Hindus and Muslims over its custody, a report said yesterday. Prince Yaqub Habeebuddin Tucy, whose family traces its lineage to the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan who built the white marble tomb, staked the claim saying he wanted "to protect the monument from falling into the wrong hands," the Asian Age daily said. The magnificent 17th-century Taj Mahal built by the emperor as a tomb for his beloved queen, Mumtaz Mahal, is owned and managed by the Archaeological Survey of India as a national monument. However, the Muslim community's Sunni Waqf Board recently claimed ownership of the monument, saying since it housed Muslim graves, the Taj belonged to it.
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