Double blow for Sangramsinh Gaekwad ------------------------------------------------------- Vadodara, November 21: A CITY court on Friday rejected a contempt application filed nine years ago against Vadodara royal family in connection with the alleged sale of a gold canon. The petition, in which Maharani Shantadevi Gaekwad was the original defendant, was filed in 1994. In the petition, Sangramsinh Gaekwad, Shantadevi�s youngest son, had alleged that the defendant had committed willful and gross contempt of the court by clandestinely disposing off the gun in violation of a status quo order on any sale of the royal properties. The status quo on royal properties was passed in August 1992 by a senior division civil judge on a partition suit filed by Sangramsinh in November 1991. Sangramsinh had alleged that the golden canon was sold in the pendency of the stay, causing contempt of court. According to the application, sale of the guns (all gold) worth Rs 4.5 crore, was carried out sometime between 1992 and 1993, during which the stay was in force. After the death of Maharani Shantadevi in 2002, her daughter Mrunalinidevi Puar and eldest son Ranjitsinh Gaekwad were added to the petition as defendants. Both in their replies denied that the canon had been sold in breach of the stay order. However, the defendants denied the existence of any such gun. The contention was that at the time of the status quo order and much before the filing of contempt suit, the golden gun had already been sold. In its order Judge N G Parmar has observed that there was no evidence of sale and the plaintiff has neither produced any document, nor produced any affidavit of the jeweller to whom the said gun might have been sold. Speaking about the order, counsel for the Vadodara royal family, Manish Mathur, said that it was one more proof of ill intentions of the opponent. Counsel of Sangramsinh, advocate Kailash Jethmalani, contended that as original defendant Rajmata Shantadevi was dead, the petition had already become technically infructious. ��Its not going to affect other pending cases in the royal dispute,�� said Jethmalani. Accused of embezzling Rs 2.44 crore in PF money SURAT: CITY police on Friday registered a cheating case against the chairman of the defunct Baroda Rayon Corporation (BRC), Sangramsingh Pratapsingh Gaekwad for the embezzlement of Provident Fund money worth Rs 2.44 crore payable to the employees during 2000-02. The hier to the princely Gaekwad dynasty, Sangramsingh Gaekwad, a resident of Mumbai and manager of the BRC, Bhupendra Manilal Desai have been charged under section 420, 405, 406 and 409 of the IPC. A complaint regarding this was lodged with the Udhana police by an officer working with the Central Provident Fund (CPF), Sunil Parsheshwar Pannicker. According to police, Gaekwad has embezzled PF money of the employees who were relieved after the closure of the company two years ago. The employees� union of the BRC had launched agitational programmes against the company management for the payment of the outstanding money. In his complaint, Pannicker has stated that Gaekwad and his former manager, Bhupendra Desai had not deposited the Provident Fund money with the CPF for the year 2000-02. Despite several notices given by the CPF, the company management did not gave any favourable reply. However, acting on a State Government order the CPF lodged a complaint. Police Inspector A M Rathod said, ��The BRC was closed two years ago and hundreds of its employees were rendered jobless. Since then the employees have been demanding payment of the outstanding PF money. The employees were not given their Provident Fund money because the company owners had not deposited the amout in the accounts of their employees with the PF office.��He said, ��We have registered a complaint against the company owner, Sangramsingh Gaekwad and his manager, Bhupendra Desai. We will investigate the entire case and then take appropriate decision __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Search - Find what you�re looking for faster http://search.yahoo.com