Saturday, May 28 2005 20:56 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

London: Liquor baron Vijay Mallya plans to set up a museum dedicated to Tipu Sultan, provided the Central Government facilitates him to import some of the rare treasures of the erstwhile ruler of Mysore he bought at an auction in London.

"I am very happy and proud as an Indian to have acquired these items for India. But I will not stand for the kind of harassment that I had to face with the import of the Tipu Sultan sword the last time. I want everything in writing and clarified from the Government before I take these back to India," Mallya said yesterday (May 27, 2005) before leaving for the US.

At the Sotheby's auction on Wednesday, Mallya, Chairman of the UB group and a member of the Rajya Sabha spent nearly 1 million pounds to buy back Tipu Sultan's looted treasures.

"I am pleased with the result as I was able to pick and choose a wide cross-section of the items. There were quite a few similar type of items and I am happy that I was able to pick out some of the best. They are all prized possessions and I can't single out any one as the highlight," he said.

Mallya said he plans to set up a museum dedicated to Tipu Sultan in Bangalore provided the Government helped him import some of the rare treasures of the great warrior.

Among the rare articles he bought at the auction included a silver-mounted flintlock-sporting gun from the personal armoury of the 'Tiger of Mysore'.

He spent 120,000 pounds for it. Other major items were a rare three-pounder bronze cannon on its presentation field carriage from Tipu's palace (72,000 pounds) and a three-pounder bronze cannon from Tipu's palace (66,000 pounds).