Sikh group stakes claim to British Raj's Ranjit Singh collection

London, May 26 (ANI): A Sikh group from Slough has written to Queen Elizabeth requesting her to return property and items belonging to the family of Punjab's last king Ranjit Singh.

The Telegraph quoted Jagdeesh Singh, from the Sikh Community Action Network, as saying: "We have written to the Queen asking for access rights and the eventual return of items such as historic copies of the Sikh national sacred writings, together with swords and weapons of the Sikh gurus."

According to Singh, letters, diaries and writings of Maharaja Duleep Singh, the Sikh ruler exiled to Britain in the 19th century, are also part of the collection, some of which is housed at Windsor Castle.

He says: "These things were plundered by the British and are now hidden away in various Royal palaces. I am sure that the Queen does not really know what is there and we would like to do a proper inventory."

A spokesman for the Royal Collection insisted that it did not own any swords or armour relating to Maharaja Duleep Singh, while a colleague at the Royal Archives claimed to have only a number of papers relating to Singh but not his actual writings. (ANI)