Stop fighting: Nizam’s wife

HYDERABAD: Making a public appeal the estranged third wife of Prince Mukkaram Jah, Manolya Onur appealed to the Eighth Nizam of Hyderabad to give up fighting and pay up the for the sake of their daughter Princess Niloufer as directed by the family court here.

Talking to the media soon after her arrival in the city on Saturday, the former Miss Turkey and divorced wife of the last Nizam said she wanted to send Princess Niloufer to a boarding school in Switzerland.

“Stop fighting. You have done it for eleven long years and at least now let her study,” Manolya Onur pleaded publicly with the Nizam who is now said to be preparing to appeal against the verdict of a local family court which has asked the latter to pay maintenance for the daughter and Meher for the mother. As per the court order Manolya Onur and her daughter Princess Niloufer-II are to be paid $15,000 dollars as monthly maintenance, a meher of $700,000 and return of the $300,000 that the former beauty queen had lent to the Nizam in his needy days with interest at the rate of six per cent from 1993 onwards.

According to Manolya, Princess Niloufer had spoken to her father after the court verdict and pleaded with him to bury the past and let them live peacefully. "My daughter told me her father was rather brusque and did not speak to her with warmth at all" Monolya said.

The high profile family drama caught public attention with the court case being fought for 11 years. Though Manolya was able to get a favourable judgment from the court, she was not successful in her demand for the possession of the Chiran Palace, where she and the Nizam had lived for some time and Princess Niloufer was born. “I want the palace for the sake of my daughter who is attached with the place" she said. The palace in the heart of the 400 acre Kasu Brahmananda Reddy Park, which is a declared urban forest area, is said to be valued at around Rs 300 crore.

The Eighth Nizam of Hyderabad was in town earlier this month on a day’s visit that was kept under wraps. Apparently he discussed the future course of action with his lawyers and took stock of his properties in the city. He is said to be planning to convert his three palaces into heritage hotels.