Britain did not steal the most famous diamond in the Crown Jewels from India and should be allowed to keep it, the Indian government said for the first time yesterday.

The 105-carat Kohinoor diamond, which sits in the Tower of London, has been at the heart of a bitter row between India and Britain ever since it was taken from the Punjab and presented to Queen Victoria in 1849, with India consistently pressing for its return.

But India’s solicitor-general appeared to drop his country’s long-standing objection to British ownership yesterday, telling a judge that, in the opinion of the culture ministry, the diamond had not been “forcibly taken” and was a gift.

"Kohinoor cannot be said to be forcibly taken or stolen as it was given by the successors of Maharaja Ranjit Singh to East India Company in 1849 as compensation for helping them in the Sikh wars," said Ranjit Kumar.

The jewel was in the possession of the rulers of Punjab's Sikh Empire when the Anglo-Sikh wars broke out in the late 1840s.