New successors of Mangal Pandey

BALLIA: Even before the controversy over prominent Bollywood personality Yash Chopra's claim that Mangal Pandey was not a freedom fighter could die down, another dispute has arisen after two persons filed petitions in courts claiming to be the "true descendants" of the hero of 1857 mutiny.
The duo, including Vice Principal of Central School New Delhi, Raghunath Pandey of Mangal Pandey's native Nagva village have claimed that they are the true successors of the martyr and filed petitions in separate courts.
While Pandey has filed the case in the Delhi High Court saying he was the descendant of Mangal Pandey, one Santosh Pandey has filed another case in the court of civil judge here.
The pandeys had also filed writs earlier against screening of Ketan Mehta's "Mangal Pandey - The rising".
Interestingly, people of Faizabad also claim that Mangal Pandey was a native of a village in that district. The official records, however, say that Pandey belonged to Nagva in Ballia.
People of Ballia have been up in arms against the film alleging it had belittled the character of Pandey, who refused to bite bullets greased with cow and pig fat while serving in the East India Company, giving rise to the first battle for independence