Diamond drenched in bloody history

Many precious stones have a blood-soaked history, but a new book reveals the world's most famous diamond - known as the Kohinoor - surpasses them all.

Now part of the British Crown Jewels, the Kohinoor (Mountain of Light) has witnessed the birth and the fall of empires across the Indian subcontinent, and remains the subject of a bitter ownership battle between the United Kingdom and India.

"It is an unbelievably violent story. Almost everyone who owns the diamond or touches it comes to a horribly sticky end," said British historian William Dalrymple, who co-authored Kohinoor: The Story of the World's Most Infamous Diamond with journalist Anita Anand.