The famed 105-carat Koh-i-noor diamond will remain a part of Britain's crown jewels and will not be returned to India, UK Prime Minister David Cameron said during a recent interview to Indian television.

The Koh-i-noor ("Mountain of Light" in Farsi) was taken to England and presented to Queen Victoria after British forces in India defeated Maharaja Duleep Singh in 1849.

Speaking to NDTV, Cameron said that if Britain were to return the Koh-i-noor, the British Museum would be "emptied." However, as part of the nation's crown jewels, the diamond is kept not in the museum, but in the Tower of London.

Cameron has been urged by MP Keith Vaz to use his visit to India as an opportunity to broach the subject of returning the Koh-i-noor diamond. Sify.com reported that Vaz issued a statement saying that after 161 years, it would be "fitting for the Koh-i-noor to return to the country in which it was mined."

Meanwhile, the report on sify.com continued, the Archeological Survey of India has denied that it has made any new attempt to facilitate the return of the diamond.



According to ASI Director of Antiquities and Museum Department Urmila Sant, ASI made a formal request of the British government seven years ago to return the Koh-i-noor, but it was denied.

"We would always love to get it back," Sant said, adding that the return of the famed diamond to India could "pave the way" for other artifacts removed under colonial rule to find their way back to India.