The Centre on Monday informed the Supreme Court that India cannot stake claim to the 105.602-carat Kohinoor diamond, one of the world’s largest diamonds which is now part of the British crown jewels and kept in the Tower of London, as it was not stolen by the British or forcibly taken out from India. It is set in the Queen Mother’s Crown.

Solicitor-general Ranjit Kumar submitted this information before a bench comprising Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and Justice Uday Lalit which was hearing a PIL filed by the All-India Human Rights and Social Justice Front seeking a direction to the government of India to get back the Kohinoor diamond.

The Solicitor-general, quoting a note from the ministry of culture, said originally the diamond was taken from a mine in Masulipatnam in Andhra Pradesh, on the riverbed of the Godavari.