Kangura battlements (a parapet with open spaces that surmounts a wall and was used for defence or decoration) along the top edge adorned the tomb.

NOW
A family had encroached upon the building 10 years ago, when INTACH was surveying the site: the lower floor was used as a cattle shed at the time. The ruin has been completed over the past four years or so — several houses have come up in this area in ward-1 of Mehrauli. Some longtime local residents pointed out one particular apartment, confirming that “a tomb” existed there.

Kala Gumbad Tomb
THEN
Housed in Tughlaqabad Institutional Area, about a kilometre north of Batra Hospital, this Tughlaq-era tomb was located on a mound — the roof was about three meters high and a dome rose over it. Experts say the grave chamber might have been accessible originally, with arched openings in each of the four sides.

NOW
A DDA park now, Newsline could find no remains of the tomb even after crisscrossing the park a few times over. The only clue that confirms the existence of a tomb was a filled-up well next to a mound, with trees all around. The park’s caretaker recalled that he had seen a dilapidated “tomb-like” structure a couple of years ago but “cannot be sure”.

— Reporting by Sweta Dutta

— Photos by Amit Mehra

Delhi’s missing monuments
* Shahjahani Building, Mehrauli
* Lodhi-era tomb, Mehrauli
* Kala Gumbad, Tughlaqabad
* 19th-century wall of mosque, Mehrauli
* Lodhi-period mosque, Mehrauli-Badarpur Road