A Bhopal merchant's Rs 35,000 investment in a British-era war loan remains unaccounted for after 109 years, with the UK's Debt Management Office (DMO) saying it has found no evidence that the loan was ever an obligation of the British government.
The response, sent by email on October 16 to Shreyansh Raniwala, legal counsel for the family of Vivek Ruthiya, 63, from Sehore in Madhya Pradesh, leaves the family's central question unanswered. The family says its ancestor, Seth Jumma Lal Ruthia, subscribed to the Indian War Loan in 1917 and that the investment was never repaid.
