Govt will try to reclaim crown jewel

Return of Koh-i-Noor diamond is viewed as partial compensation for centuries of exploitation

A day after India's solicitor general told the Supreme Court that it won't request the return of the 106-carat Koh-i-Noor diamond, which is now part of the British crown jewels, the government reversed track and said it would make all possible efforts to bring the diamond back.

India's solicitor general had said on Monday that Britain shouldn't have to give the diamond back, since it was given freely to the British in the mid-19th century by the family of Punjab's Maharaja Ranjit Singh, and had been "neither stolen nor forcibly taken by British rulers".