NEW DELHI, AUG 17: Punjab Government has laid claim to the fabulous treasure trove of Maharaja Ranjit Singh which once included the Kohinoor diamond, now part of the British crown jewels. If recovered from the Swiss bank vaults where they are believed to have been stashed away for almost two centuries, the Government would like to place them in a suitable museum to enable the masses to view them.''

A Government note today said Singh was the founding father of secularism in the country and ``due to his unique personality, Punjabis are greatly attached with him.''

The note said that Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal has requested Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral to take up with the British Government the matter of restoration of the treasures to Singh's beloved land.

Earlier, Sikh politician S S Mann had said that legally and morally the treasures, if found in the Swiss vaults, should go to the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) and to all the rightful owners, mostly Jews who had made made deposits in these vaults and then perished in the Nazi pogroms and massacres.

Included in the list was the name of Princess Catherine Hilda Duleep Singh, one of the three daughters of Duleep Singh, son of the man who founded the Sikh State. All of Duleep Singh's eight children died without issue.

However, there many potential claimants to Ranjit's personal legacy and these include the descendants of Prince Peshwahra Singh, one of the Maharaja's six other sons.

Whether they and others will indeed stake claim to whatever lies in the vaults of Geneva remains to be seen because of a legendary curse attached to the treasures, which are believed to include the personal effects of Guru Govind Singh, the tenth and last of the Sikh gurus.

Many Sikhs believe that disaster befell Ranjit's descendants because he took possession of a steel trunk containing the personal effects of the guru which may now be part of what lies in the Swiss vaults.

The vaults may also contain documents pertaining treaties and agreements between the Sikhs and the British and throw light on how exactly Punjab went under the colonial yoke and also how the Koh-i-Noor came to adorn the crown of the queen mother.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.