The decades-old intrigue over an Indian guest house in Mecca
As the annual Hajj pilgrimage draws to a close, a long-settled corner of Mecca is stirring up a storm thousands of miles away in India - not for its spiritual significance, but for a 50-year-old inheritance dispute.
At the heart of the controversy is Keyi Rubath, a 19th-Century guest house built in the 1870s by Mayankutty Keyi, a wealthy Indian merchant from Malabar (modern-day Kerala), whose trading empire stretched from Mumbai to Paris.
Located near Islam's holiest site, Masjid al-Haram, the building was demolished in 1971 to make way for Mecca's expansion. Saudi authorities deposited 1.4 million riyals (about $373,000 today) in the kingdom's treasury as compensation, but said no rightful heir could be identified at the time.
Decades later, that sum - still held in Saudi Arabia's treasury - has sparked a bitter tussle between two sprawling branches of the Keyi family, each trying to prove its lineage and claim what they see as their rightful inheritance.
Neither side has succeeded so far. For decades, successive Indian governments - both at the Centre and in Kerala - have tried and failed to resolve the deadlock.
It remains unclear if Saudi authorities are even willing to release the compensation, let alone adjust it for inflation as some family members now demand - with some claiming it could be worth over $1bn today.
Followers of the case note the property was a waqf - an Islamic charitable endowment - meaning descendants can manage but not own it.
The Saudi........
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