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Posted
on 02-Jun-01 12:50 PM
Who's the girl? Deependra's India connection
Ratnottama Sengupta and Sujata Dutta-Sachdeva
The Times of India News Service
NEW DELHI: Could the woman Crown Prince Deependra shot his parents for be Madhavrao Scindia's niece? Devyani, whom Deependra is said to have been dating for 10 years, is the younger daughter of Usharaje Scindia, the sister of Madhavrao Scindia, who's married to Pashupati Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana, a former minister in the Rashtriya Prajatantra Party government in Nepal. Usharaje's mother, the late Vijayaraje Scindia, was also the daughter of a Rana who fled Nepal.
Former ambassador to Nepal and retired JNU scholar Bimal Prasad recalls Devyani as a very "cultured'' girl. But it is believed that Deependra's parents were so opposed to the match that they had threatened to disinherit Deependra in favour of the younger son, Niranjan: this dates back to the traditional rivalry between the Shahs and the Ranas. In fact, when King Birendra married Queen Aishwarya, it was considered an `unusual alliance' because the Queen was a Rana.
Devyani, who was in India for Vijayaraje's funeral, is the great grand-daughter of the last Rana prime minister of Nepal, General Mohun Shumsher Jung Bahadur. Karan Singh's wife, Yasho Rajya Lakshmi, is the General's grand-daughter Yasho Rajya Lakshmi and Pashupati Rana are cousins. Madhavrao Scindia's wife, named Madhavi Devi after her marriage, also comes from a branch of the Rana family.
King Tribhuvan, grandfather of the late king Birendra Bir Bikram Shah, had two wives, and both were daughters of the King of Kashipur whose son was the maternal grandfather of Martand Singh, scion of the Kapurthala royal family.
That's not the only India connection. Before King Birendra became the first from the Nepal royal family to study at Eton, he was a student at St Joseph's School, Darjeeling. His daughter, 25-year-old Princess Shruti, also shot dead by Deependra on Friday, went to Mayo College in Ajmer, often described as the 'Eton of the East.' Known to be a very good swimmer, she is remembered by her teachers as "a good student and a very unassuming person." In fact, says vice-principal Dipika Hazra: "The parents themselves never threw their weight around. Like any other parent, they always took prior permission when they wanted to take Shruti out of the college.'' She also remembers the first time the "concerned brother" came to check on the school and "inquired about the climate, the severe heat of Ajmer and about coolers (we didn't have any then)."
That was in 1993. In 1994, Shruti completed her Class XII, as part of the first batch of the Girls' College. Married, she was the mother of two, the youngest being a seven-month-old daughter.
The late King Birendra was also directly related to the Maharaja of Jodhpur and Maharaja of Mayurbhanj in Orissa. Maharani Hemlata, wife of Maharaja Gaj Singh of Jodhpur, and the Rajkumari of Poonch before that, is the niece of King Mahendra, father of King Birendra.
Sources in Kathmandu said that on Friday, Shruti reportedly intervened to calm the Crown Prince. She told him to postpone the matter as their father was having a heart problem. But Deependra was said to be so agitated that he slapped her and left in a huff. Minutes later he repprtedly came back with weapons and shot everybody dead. It was over in seconds.
The sources confirmed that the royal family wanted the Crown Prince marry a Shah woman with whom too he was said to have had an affair. ``He used to tell his close friends about the affair, but always emphasied that he would marry Devyani. During this fateful evening meeting, the King's mother had also reportedly spoken out against his choice of the bride. They are said to have warned him going against the royal protocol on marriages,'' the sources said.
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