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 [‎84r] (67/100)

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which time Colonel Phayre had left Baroda. The enquiries made under your
direction by Mr. Souter (Commissioner of Police, Bombay) have led to disclosures,
which I shall now proceed to summariez. Those disclosures though not made
upon oath, appear to have been obtained under circumstances which leave no
doubt as to their reliability, and may, I think, be treated as entitled to the same
weight as sworn depositions.
From the statements made by the witnesses examined by Mr. Souter, three
results, in my opinion, clearly follow :—
1. That for many months prior to November last there had been a
systematic and successful attempt to induce various members of Colonel Phayre's
household to betray their duty to their master.
2. That the purpose for which Colonel Phayre's servants were thus
suborned was twofold—to obtain information of what went on at the
Besidency ; to get rid of the Resident.
3. That the individual by whom the intrigue was conducted was His
Highness the Gaekwar himself.
The statement of the ayah Ameena, the Chobdar Paizoo Ramzan, the
Naik of Peons, Sheikh Kurreem, the Ilavildar Rowjee, and the Jemadar Nursoo,
which I am informed were all taken separately and without -the possibility
of communication between the deponents, prove a number of interviews at
different times between these various servants of the Resident and the Gaekwar
himself, the particulars of which need not be here recounted. There can I
imagine be no doubt as to their identification of the Gaekwar as the person
Avith whom these interviews took place. From their employment at the
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. , they would have frequent opportunities of seeing His Highness
with whose features and appearance they would be perfectly familiar. That
they at various times went to the Palace at night is proved by the cart-drivers
Sheikh Dawood and Karbliai Poonjabhai, the boy Chootoo, and the punka-
pullers Jugga Bhugwan, and Kabhai Amer Sing. Their admission that they
received money from the Gaekwar's servants Yeshwunt Rao and Salam is
corroborated by Shaikh, Abdoolla and Jugga.
That Rowjee had what for him were considerable sums at command at
the time of the alleged payments is shown by the evidence of the bricklayer
Dajeeba and the goldsmiths, Sheolal Wittul and Doolub Meenor. That the
the avail was in communication with the Gaekwar, Yeshwuntrao and Salam,
is established by the letters which passed between her and her husband, and
which were found in her house ; and Rowjee's statement that he undertook to
furnish information as to what was going on at the 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. is confirmed by
Jugga and by the news-letters found in Salam's house, one of which isin Jugga's
handwriting.
From the evidence above recapitulated it seems impossible to avoid the
conclusion that His Highness the Gaekwar had established through his servants,
Yeshwuntrao and Salam, confidential relations with the 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. servants, and
had secured their services by gifts and promises. To what extent those services
were to be rendered is in some degree less clearly established.
The avail's story story that she was first asked to use her good offices with
the mistress on the Gaekw ar's behalf; that afterwards jadoo or sorcery was talked
about, and that ultimately poison was mentioned, seems to me highly probable
on the face of it, and denotes the steps by which the scheme would naturally be
carried out. It may be objected that on her first examination she said nothing
about poison, and if her evidence stood alone, not much reliance could be pro-
perlv placed on it. But she is corroborated as to the fact of poison having been
mentioned at one of her interviews with the Gaekwar by her husband Sheik
Abdoolla, and though in the case of an ordinary criminal trial her account to
a third partv in the absence of the Gaekwar of what had passed between
her and the Gaekwar would not be admitted in evidence against him, I think
for present purposes it may be considered as corroborating the truthfulness of
her supplementary statement.