India unlikely to get Kohinoor diamond back, hints UK minister

New Delhi: India has no legal grounds to seek the Kohinoor back from the United Kingdom, said Alok Sharma, Minister of Asia and Pacific affairs of the government of the United Kingdom on Tuesday.

This comes amid reports that a high-level meeting between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma and Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha took place earlier this week on the issue of bringing the Kohinoor back.

Referring to the UN convention on restitution of cultural property, Sharma, on his maiden visit to India hintd that the UK was not keen on entertaining the idea of returning the diamond to India. "It is the UK government’s (view) that there are no legal grounds for restitution.”said Sharma.