The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c20.430

v3.c20.430

It was not only at Daulatābād that the news of the king's sickness in Telingāna had given rise to reports of his death. The rumour had been circulated and had gained some credence at Delhi and in its neighbourhood. Sayyid Ibrāhīm the Pursebearer, son of Sayyid Jalāl-ud-dīn Ahsan of Madura, was a favourite of the king, whose confidence in the son was so little shaken by the father's rebellion that Ibrāhīm was left as governor of the districts of Hānsī and Sirsa when Muhammad left Delhi for the south. He heard and was inclined to credit the news of the king's death, and when a large remittance of treasure of Sind reached Hānsī on its way to Delhi he detained the convoy on the pretext that the roads were unsafe, with the intention of seizing the treasure and establishing his independence as soon as he should receive confirmation of the news of the king’s death, but on learning that the rumour was false he allowed the convoy to pass on to Delhi. No overt act of rebellion had been committed, and had Ibrāhīm kept his own counsel, he might have escaped suspicion, but he had incautiously mentioned his design in the presence of his servants, and the matter reached the king’s ears. Owing to the regard which he had for Ibrāhīm he hesitated to proceed to extremities against him, and he might have escaped had not a treasonable speech, rashly uttered, been reported at court. He was arrested and confessed, under fear of torture, his real object in detaining the treasure, and the king put him to death.