Auction of Memorabilia of Gandhi

Memorabilia of Mahatma Gandhi were sold at auction for $1.8m to an Indian businessman on Thursday despite the owner of the collection’s last-minute effort to retrieve the items, which included a bowl, a pocket watch, a pair of leather sandals and spectacles. After furious bidding a representative of Vijay Mallya, the billionaire chairman of United Breweries Group and Kingfisher Airlines, outlasted the other collectors.
Tony Bedi, who did the bidding for Mr Mallya, said that the items would be turned over to the Indian government and put on display. He said that he thought they were worth at least $6m.The sale of the items had become the subject of an international dispute and earlier this week Mr Otis offered to sell the rare collection to India to advance the cause of non-violence. But the negotiations broke down when the Indian government offered to pay only the reserve price of up to $30,000.
Ravi Batra, a lawyer who said he was representing Mr Otis, said that his client was pleased that the items were won by a reputable person who intended to return them to India and that they would ratify the auction. He would not comment on how much of the $1.8m Mr Otis would collect or what he would do with the money