The Legacy of Muslim Rule in India c9.s3.11

c9.s3.11

Another instance. An important nobleman, Shamsuddin Abu Rija, the Auditor General (Mustaufi), had earned wide notoriety as a professional bribe-taker, embezzler and at that a tyrant. Shams Siraj Afif, historian contemporary of Firoz Shah, devotes thirty-five pages to record the crimes of Abu Rija.⁴⁸ The three years during which he held the office of the Auditor General, his hand of greed extended to all officers, Zamindars and Amils. Those who gave him bribes, were permitted to go scot-free; others who did not, were implicated by him on one charge or another and punished. Nobody dared to raise a voice against his criminal breach of trust or his atrocities, because he was a hot favourite of the Sultan. Even before he was made the Mustaufi, he, as the deputy governor of Gujarat, had borrowed 90 thousand *tankahs* from the Provincial Treasury for his own use, but had not refunded the amount. To hide his improper gains he had built a new mansion in Delhi and had buried underground thousands of gold *Ashrafis*. At last the Sultan could not keep his eyes closed to Shamsuddins black deeds because a number of nobles, including the Khan-i-Jahan, son of Khan-i-Jahan Maqbul, insisted that he should be brought to book. Shamsuddins mansion was searched and his reserves of gold dug out. He was imprisoned and tortured so severely that he could never ride a horse again.⁴⁹ Strangely enough when Firozs son Muhammad ascended the throne, he recalled Shamsuddin Abu Rija and reinstated him with all honours.⁵⁰