Dikhyaa Mohanty 
A socio-cultural organisation of Odisha has claimed that the Kohinoor diamond belonged to Lord Jagannath, and sought the intervention of President Droupadi Murmu for its return to the historic Puri temple from the United Kingdom.
Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, her son Prince Charles has become the King and, as per norms, the 105-carat diamond will go to his wife the Duchess of Cornwall Camilla, who is the Queen’s consort.
Shree Jagannath Sena, a Puri-based outfit, submitted a memorandum to the President, seeking her intervention to facilitate the process of bringing back the Kohinoor diamond to the 12th-century shrine.
“The Kohinoor diamond belongs to Sri Jagannath Bhagban. It is now with the Queen of England. Kindly request our Prime Minister to take steps to bring it to India… as Maharaja Ranjit Singh donated it to God Jagannath in his will,” Sena convener Priya Darsan Pattnaik said in the memorandum.
Priya Darsan Pattnaik claimed that Maharaja of Punjab Ranjit Singh had donated the diamond to the Puri Lord after he won a battle against Nadir Shah of Afghanistan.
However, it was not handed over immediately. Ranjit Singh died in 1839 and, 10 years later, the British took the Kohinoor away from his son, Duleep Singh, though they were aware that it was bequeathed to Lord Jagannath at Puri, historian and researcher Anil Dhir stated.
Priya Darsan Pattnaik asserted that after he sent a letter to the Queen in this regard, he received a communication from Buckingham Palace on October 19, 2016, asking him to appeal directly to the United Kingdom government as “Her Majesty acts on the advice of her ministers and remains strictly non-political at all times”.
A copy of that letter has been attached to the memorandum to the President, he said.
