Indore family announces Rs 5 lakh reward for tracing newly-wed couple who went missing in Meghalaya
BHOPAL: An Indore-based transporter family has announced a Rs 5 lakh cash bounty for tracing its newly-wed couple Raja and Sonam Raghuvanshi, who have been missing in Meghalaya since May 23.
The Raghuvanshi family's eldest son and Raja's brother, Sachin Raghuvanshi, told TNIE on Thursday.
The couple got married on May 11 and left for a trip to the Northeast ten days later.
"After offering prayers at Goddess Kamakhya Devi Temple in Guwahati, they went on a honeymoon trip to Shillong, from where they hired a scooter and set out for Sohra (Cherrapunjee) on May 23," said Sachin.
"We last talked to them over the phone at 1.23 pm on May 23, but after that, their phones have been sounding switched off, while the scooter they hired to get there too has been found abandoned,' Sachin added.
Raja's brother Vipin and Sonam's brother Govind, subsequently went to Meghalaya on May 25, after which the local police started acting on the matter.
"Our Indore MP Shankar Lalwani too is camping in Shillong, coordinating with authorities there for searching Raja and Sonam. Also, our state's CM Dr Mohan Yadav and cabinet minister Kailash Vijayvargiya are coordinating with the Meghalaya government in the matter,' Sachin said.
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Time of India
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Time of India
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"It was a synthesis of architecture, arts, and design like hardly any other building in that period," he adds, comparing the palace—with its sleek lines and pitched roof—to The Bauhaus, the groundbreaking steel-and-glass art school designed by architect Walter Gropius in 1926. Art Deco buildings were just beginning to bloom along Mumbai's Marine Drive in 1933 when the palace—designed in the International Style—was dubbed by the media a "fairy tale palace of modernism". With just nine bedrooms and twenty-four rooms in all, "...this really was a family home rather than a Maharaja's palace," wrote Shivaji Rao 'Richard' Holkar, the Maharaja's son from his third marriage, in the run-up to the 2019 Paris exhibition on his father titled Modern Maharajah. Sent to England at the behest of the British at the age of 12, Yeshwant Holkar II returned to India at age 17 to ascend the throne. 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Later, the palace evolved to blend beauty and utility, featuring innovations such as clear and darkly tinted glass panes set in metal frames to regulate natural light, India's first air-conditioning system, cubist para vents, pictorial carpets, and vibrantly coloured walls. The circulatory verandas facing the inner courtyard were a thoughtful nod to India's tropical climate. "My father put his foot down on only one major design element," wrote Richard Holkar. "Muthesius wanted a flat roof, in line with the modernist idiom of Le Corbusier, but my father insisted it wouldn't withstand the monsoon. Muthesius relented, designing a sloped roof covered with custom-made green ceramic tiles. International acclaim followed its completion in 1933. The palace became a showcase for modernist masterpieces, and Muthesius was appointed 'Chief Master Builder' of Indore. In 1934, he curated an exhibition at Bombay's Town Hall (now the Asiatic Society of Mumbai), bringing Manik Bagh's bold aesthetic to the heart of India's art scene. Even Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi became involved, travelling to Indore in 1937 to design a 'Temple of Love and Peace' for the royal family. That year, after the sudden death of the young Maharani in a Swiss clinic at age 23, the temple was reimagined as a memorial. Among the standout vintage prints at the exhibition, you will find Brancusi's iconic 'Bird in Space'—a sculpture that the Maharaja bought in black marble, white marble, and bronze—soaring in the Maharaja's living room. A dedicated section showcases other unrealised projects, including a sleek lakeside villa and houseboat in Kashmir. Though Manik Bagh faded from public consciousness following World War II—when Muthesius returned to Germany and Indore merged with the Indian state in 1947—the palace briefly resurfaced in 1970, when French journalist Robert Descharnes stumbled upon it, astonished by its preservation. Some years later, the Indian govt abolished the privileges of the Maharaja families and revoked the state's obligation to pay them maintenance. As a result, furniture, carpets, and lighting fixtures from their residences found their way—often via circuitous routes—back to Europe. In 1980, Sotheby's auctioned off many of these items, including rugs and a striking aluminium and chrome bed with built-in glass bookshelves. Among the bidders was designer Yves Saint Laurent, who also sought a pair of distinctive floor lamps. Stripped of his power and forced to adjust to a new socio-political landscape after independence, the Maharaja of Indore married twice more before passing away in Mumbai at age 53. His children and heirs, Usha Devi and Richard Holkar, preserved his legacy. However, after the abolition of privy purses and royal titles in 1976, they were required to hand over Manik Bagh Palace to the govt. Its eclectic European furnishings were sold at auctions and replaced with utilitarian Godrej cupboards now filled with bureaucratic files. Unironically, the former home of a couple who once enjoyed tax-free govt stipends now serves as the headquarters of the central GST and excise commissioner. When the Maharaja's Mumbai-based grandson, Yeshwant Holkar, visited Manik Bagh last year to invite the commissioner to an exhibition, he found the palace in a state "not befitting of its history or importance." "It's important that govt officials are made aware of its heritage so that any renovations are sensitive to its legacy," says Holkar, who believes the palace could thrive as a museum or a design institute. "Given its global reputation as a modernist icon, the govt could do far more with it." According to Gadebusch, Manik Bagh remains largely unknown to the Indian public outside design and architecture circles. Yet, it is a remarkable example of Indian patronage of Western design and architecture during the Great Depression. Few are aware of Muthesius's pivotal role in creating what is arguably India's most avant-garde residence. "On one hand, it's saddening to see it fall short of its potential. On the other hand, there's real hope. Much can still be restored," says Yeshwant Holkar. "The ball is in the govt's court."
Time of India
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