Fall of the Mughal Empire v3.c36.s8.34

v3.c36.s8.34

In the camp at Karnāl, Abdul Ahad was waited upon by Bhai Desu Singh, the chief of Kaithal. The regent, under the Machiavellian counsel of Gajpat Singh, on 12th September placed under arrest all the Sikh sardars then on a visit for paying their respects to him and the prince.* This stroke destroyed all men's trust in the imperial Government's good faith, and henceforth the Sikhs kept aloof from him in well-grounded suspicion. Ahad first asked for three lakhs of Rupees from Desu Singh, and when the latter agreed to two lakhs, the royal minister raised his demand to five lakhs! At last the Kaithal chief's diwan agreed to 6¼ lakhs on condition of Desu Singh’s estates being confirmed to him by imperial rescript and guarded from the Patiāla Rajah’s encroachment.