Bhansali, one of the leading merchants. So unpopular was he that when news reached the city that Shujat Khan had been chosen to succeed him, the people of the town attacked the Bhadra and killed Anopsingh. In 1723 Mubariz-ul-Mulk, Viceroy, chose Shujat Khan his deputy, and Hamid Khan, then holding Ahmedabad for the Nizam the former Viceroy, retired; Shujat Khan took his place, and went to collect tribute, then Hamid returned, defeated and killed Shujat and held all the land about Ahmedabad. Rustam Khan, Shujat's brother, came against Hamid. Hamid won over the Marathas to his side, defeated and killed Rustam, and seized and pillaged Ahmedabad. Then the Viceroy Mubariz-ul-Mulk came and took Ahmedabad (1725). For his services in stopping the pillage of the city Khushalchand, an ancestor of the present Lalbhai family of Ahmedabad, Nagarsheth or chief of the merchants, was raised to that honour. Then there followed a struggle between Hamid Khan, the Nizam's deputy helped by the Marathas, and Sarbuland Khan the Viceroy and his deputy. During this contest Ahmedabad was pillaged by the Marathas, the city more than once taken and retaken, and even when the Viceroy's power was established in name, he was practically besieged in the city by the crowds of Maratha horse who ravaged the country up to the gates. The revenues cut off, to pay their troops the Mughal officers granting orders on bankers, seized them, put them in prison, and tortured them till they paid. Reduced to wretchedness many merchants, traders, and artisans left the city and wandered into foreign parts. Though successful against the Marathas the Viceroy had to agree to give them a share of the revenue, and badly off for money had, in 1726, and again in 1730, so greatly to increase taxation that the city rose in revolt. In the same year (1730) Mubariz-ul-Mulk the Viceroy, superseded by the king Abhai Singh of Jodhpur, refused to give up the city and outside of the walls fought a most closely contested battle. Under the management of Abhai Singh, Ahmedabad remained unmolested, till in 1733 a Maratha army coming against the city had to be bought off by the payment of a large sum of money. In 1737 a fresh dispute arose among the Mughal officers. Momin Khan the Viceroy had his appointment cancelled in favour of Abhesingh's deputy Ratansingh Bhandari. Refusing to obey the second order, Momin Khan