A tussle within the family of 1965 war hero Abdul Hamid over his Param Vir Chakra medal has burst into the open a day before RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat launches a book on him in his ancestral village in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

Havildar Hamid’s eldest son Zainul Hassan, one of the organisers of Monday’s book launch, is furious that nephew Jameel Alam is refusing to hand the medal over to him for display at the event.

Alam says his grandmother — Hamid’s late wife Rasoolan Bibi — bequeathed the medal to him in her will. He says he would never give it to an uncle who, he alleges, never cared for the family but now wants to use Hamid’s legacy for self-promotion.

Hamid had destroyed eight Pakistani tanks and was killed trying to destroy a ninth, for which he was posthumously awarded India’s highest gallantry award. Then President S. Radhakrishnan handed the medal over to Rasoolan Bibi.

Zainul said he had organised the book launch in his village of Dhamupur, Ghazipur district, coinciding with Hamid's 91st birth anniversary.

"Bhagwat will be the chief guest. He will release a book on Abdul Hamid. But Jameel is not ready to give the medal to be displayed on the occasion," he told reporters in Dhamupur.

Zainul said he and movie producer Vikram Khakhar would co-produce a film on the book, written by journalist Ramachandran Srinivasan.

"My mother wanted to donate the medal to an army museum. I want to fulfil her wish. They should give it to me or donate it to a museum after (Monday's) event," he said.

Alam, a farmer and the son of Zainul’s younger brother, said: "My grandmother passed away in 2019. I looked after her. My uncle (Zainul), who retired from the army two years ago, never cared for his mother. He had no connection with the family till his retirement but now wants to tell the world that he is the son of Abdul Hamid."

Alam said his grandmother had in her will named him as "her heir to everything, including the medal".

"It’s mentioned in her will, which was drawn up legally. I’m not going to give him the medal," he said.

"My uncle has lodged a complaint against me on the chief minister’s portal for grievance redressal. I have replied to it. He organised Monday’s event here to promote himself. Before that, he never wanted to know how we were living."

He added: "There’s no question of bowing to pressure from him. I’ll file a defamation suit against him if he doesn’t stop spreading false allegations against me."

Bhagwat was in Varanasi on Sunday. He is expected to travel 90km east to Dhamupur to attend Monday’s event and meet local RSS workers.