Enclosures of letter to Her Majesty's Secretary of State for India, No.11, dated 15 January 1875: Nos. 3 to 45 of Abstract of Contents, from the Officiating Under-Secretary to the Government of India, Fort William [‎82v] (64/100)

21. In his 3rd paragrapli the Commissioner of Police brings to notice
the names of his subordinates employed in ferreting out the facts of this curious
case, and I have been much impressed by the zeal, industry, and astuteness of
these officials (and this without any use of force or threat) in detecting the
culprits. I recommend Rao Bahadoor Gujanund Vittul to the favor of Govern
ment, also Khans Bahadoor Meer Akbar Ali Khan and Meer Abdool Ali.
22. Having thus, in obedience to your telegram of the 30th ultimo,
Ask Advocate-Qeuerai to come at ^closed the opinion of the Advocate-General and
once to Baroda and advise in the case. tllC report 01 the Commissioner of Police, together
Please send all evidence with Sou- ^ the eviden Ce taken in the CaSC, it UOW becomes
ter's report, with your opinion and my grave duty to submit my own opinion ; and, in
doin g so ' f ^ ^ the case in its political
aspects, and with special reference to the circum
stances and alleged complicity of His Highness the Gaekwar.
23. So regarded the facts of the case cannot be taken per se, or be
left to the verdict of an ordinary jury. They must be considered—
1^.—-In connection with the antecedents of His Highness, remote and prox
imate ;
2wf/. In reference to the moral certainty or strong moral probability of
the facts themselves, as recorded in the evidence adduced in the case itself; and
3r^.—With reference to the rights and obligations mutually subsisting
between His Highness as responsible representative of a Native Protected State
on the one side, and of Her Majesty's Government in its character of the
paramount and protective power in India on the other side.
24,. Considering the case in connection with the antecedents of His High
ness, the records of the Baroda Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. show that this is the third occasion
whereon His Highness' name has become publicly associated with attempts to
poison btate personages. The two previous alleged attempts were against the
persons of— D
1st. His Highness' deceased brother and sovereign the late Khundav Rao
Gaekwar.
2nd. The quondam Minister of his late Highness Khunday Rao, named
Bhow Sindia, whose case was significant!v re-
Dated 11th October 1872. marked on by the Viceroy in his khureeta An important letter usually sent in an elaborate textile pouch, dispatched as part of the royal or diplomatic correspondence of rulers and elites. to His
Highness.
2o. Rumour alleges that the above are not the only instances of capital
crime committed or abetted by His Highness. Although it is unlikely that the
surmises and suspicions in these instances will ever assume the form of proof
so long as those implicated shall retain the power of avenging themselves on
witnesses. 00
+1 • 2 !r AS f?; ir<ls tI . ie P roxima te antecedents of His Highness, the records of
tins office and the testimony of the Minister and of others show that durin^ the
past year, or year and one-half year there has been constant and increasinir
political irritation and hostility between the Gaekwar and the late Residenf,
Vide khureeta An important letter usually sent in an elaborate textile pouch, dispatched as part of the royal or diplomatic correspondence of rulers and elites. of 2nd November 1874.
until His Highness characterized the Resident in
^ * • wi vi i „ a letter to tlie yicero y> and requested that the Resi-
cut might be withdrawn from his Court; while the Resident almost simultane-
o/ No -OMfy stigmatized the Gaekwar as at "enmity"
tive" as a mm of Wlt h tim " personally as the British representa-
uve, as a man of outrageous" conduct, and as "deliberately" sett ill" at
defiance the principles of humanity, loyalty, and justice. A-ain the record
the n part ofThe at in<licate !l11 o^ni Z ed%stem on
/ ! tl ? e P a | a p® f <;r tampering with the establishment of the Eesidencv
t-, P tt j i: CU 0f l tS C,,, , ef - 0u the otliei - haud 11 is fe'r. and it is my duty to
• V ' , «• • m l,"" ail< ' constant interference of the late Resident with" I he
to a'ruler of'that S ate^M 11 l ta ! c, , t ; ould n " t l . liave been otherwise than vexatious
at tstate. Mr. Dadabhoy, a Minister trained in our own schools
nR '
Exd. J. M.