DRAMA OF PASSION.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 71, 24 March 1928, Page 3 (Supplement)

DRAMA OF PASSION.

INDIAN PRINCE FLEES FROM DANCING GIRL. PALACE INTRIGUE. A beautiful Tndian dancing girl is the centra] figure in a drama of passion and intrigue which has culminated in l'riuce Vikram Singh, heir-apparent to the Maharajah of Dewac. fleeing from the wrath of his father and seeking safety in Bombay. A sensational 6tory ia told in Bombay of the adventures of the prince following the machinations of the dancing girl who had supplanted the prince's mother in the affections of the maharajah.

Prince Vikranvs life is said to have been made unbearable, as was that of his beautiful young wife, a daughter of the Rajah of Jath. The prince was deprived of his military rank in the State Army and virtually kept a prisoner. Fearing an attempt to poison him, the prince made a sudden dash in a motor car and escaped into Indore. where he claimed British protection. His wife is now with her father. The prince's mother is a sister of the Maharajah of Kohlapur. It is understood that the prince is preparing to appeal to the Viceroy of India.

For some time past there have been rumours that all was not well between the maharajah and his eon, a handsome youth of 20, who has had a university education. It was understood that an attempt at reconciliation had been made and that it had failed. His mother has been separated from her husband for some time and has been living in Bombay with her brother, the Maharajah of Kohlapur. Dewas State, in Malwa. Central India, has since 1841 been divided between two branches of the ruling family. Its division line strikes clean through the main street of the capital town of Dewas.