Hyderabad: Titular eighth Nizam laid to rest

Mukarram Jah Bahadur's body kept at Chawmahalla Palace for public viewing and laid to rest at the Asaf Jahi dynasty mausoleum

Hyderabad: The titular eighth Nizam Mir Barkat Ali Khan Mukarram Jah Bahadur was laid to rest at the Asaf Jahi dynasty mausoleum located at Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

Mukarram Jah Bahadur, the grandson of the seventh Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan, passed away in Istanbul Turkey on Saturday night. He was 89 years old.

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The body was brought to Hyderabad from Istanbul on Tuesday evening and kept at the Chawmahalla Palace where people were allowed to pay their last respects. While the family members, trustees and persons connected to Nizam institutions paid their last respects on Tuesday, the general public were allowed into the palace on Wednesday from 8 am. Initially, it was planned to allow the public till 1 pm, but the time was extended due to the huge rush.

Thousands of people paid their last respects to Mukarram Jah Bahadur at the palace and the police had made elaborate arrangements to manage the crowds.

Around 3.30 pm, the body draped in Asaf Jahi flag was brought out in a procession to Mecca Masjid with a band contingent of the Telangana police leading it. Thousands of people joined the procession and carried the body of their shoulders from the palace.

After the Namaz-e-Asar, Maulana Hafeez Rizwan Qureshi, Khateeb Mecca Masjid led the Namaz – e Janaza. The body was later moved to the mausoleum where it was laid to rest. A contingent of the Telangana police gave a guard of honour.

The police faced a tough time controlling the restless crowd which tried to make it to the site of the burial to participate in the rituals.