The Congress Party on Thursday stepped up pressure on beleaguered Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, producing fresh documents in support of its claim that the Dholpur Palace is state-owned. Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh showed documents purportedly showing that Raje's son Dushyant Singh and his father, Hemant Singh, reached a deal on only the movable properties of the Dholpur Palace while the palace itself remained public property. The Congress alleges that Niyant Heritage Pvt. Ltd., a company owned by Raje, Dushyant Singh, daughter-in-law Niharika Singh and former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi illegally took over the Rajasthan government property and converted it into a private high-end luxury hotel in which they invested over Rs. 1 billion ($15.6 million). Dholpur is located about 160 miles to the east of Jaipur. "We will keep disclosing information until Prime Minister Narendra Modi makes a statement and orders a probe into the matter," Ramesh said. "Until there is a closure to this issue, the Congress will keep bringing out disclosures.” A 1949 document shows that the city palace of Dholpur was state property allowed to be kept in the then Maharaja Udaibhan Singh’s possession during his lifetime. Responding to Bharatiya Janata Party claims that when National Highways Authority of India acquired land near the palace, the compensation had gone to Raje's son Dushyant Singh, Ramesh said there was a CBI case challenging the grant of compensation. "On April 10, 2013, two persons complained to the CBI that this land was illegally acquired. Dushyant Singh is not the owner," Ramesh said. The senior Congress leader said the prime minister and the union home minister, under whom the CBI functions, need to answer questions about the fate of the complaint.
