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Friday, November 22, 2024  
20 Jumada Al-Awwal 1446  

India to buy private letters of Gandhi

A report says the Indian government is buying a collection of letters that may provide information on the relationship between India's independence leader Mohandas K. Gandhiand a German architect.

The correspondence between Gandhi and Hermann Kallenbach had been listed for sale by the international auctioneers Sotheby's in London.

Lovers? Gandhi and Kallenbach sit alongside a female companion. A new book has controversially said that the pair had a two-year relationship between 1908 and 1910 .

Press Trust of India said the Ministry of Culture has agreed to pay the Kallenbach family slightly more than the catalog price ranging between $775,000 and $1.1 million. It would store the thousands of letters and photographs at the National Archives.

India's Gujarat state banned a book on Gandhi by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Joseph Lelyveld last year after reviews hinted Gandhi and Kallenbach had a sexual relationship. AP