Chor Minar, Medieval tower in Hauz Khas, India.

Chor Minar is a cylindrical tower of rough, irregular brown, grey and rusty-red stone, rising in a tapering shaft to a flat top on a square platform in Hauz Khas. A banded molding separates the wider base from the upper shaft. The base has a narrow arched window with a grille above a small sill, and below it a wider arched doorway framed by an alfiz, flanked by two rectangular wall sections each holding a small arched niche. A spiral staircase runs inside; more than 200 holes pierce the upper shaft.

Chor Minar is attributed to Sultan Alauddin Khalji of the Khalji dynasty (1290–1320), though no written sources confirm the commission and it is uncertain whether the tower was ever completed. Historians link it to the Khalji slaughter of a Mongol settlement near Delhi; during the raid of Ali Beg, Tartaq and Targhi in 1305, 8,000 Mongol prisoners were executed and their heads displayed on towers around Siri. It is now a Monument of National Importance.

Local legend gives the tower its name: Chor Minar means "Tower of Thieves", from the story that the severed heads of thieves were displayed on spears through its 225 holes as a warning. The German Wikipedia notes that the tower's actual function is unknown and that the hole story is speculation.

Chor Minar stands just off Aurobindo Marg in Hauz Khas, about 5 km south of Safdarjung's Tomb; the Qutb complex, Begumpur Mosque and Khirki Mosque are nearby. The tower rises on a square platform, and a spiral staircase runs up inside. The site is a protected Monument of National Importance, so keep to the structure and do not climb the loose stonework.

The German Wikipedia notes that the tower's function is unknown and that its more than 200 holes can only be speculated about; local legend holds that poles were fixed in them to display the heads of thieves or defeated enemies. The number 225 is often cited, but the sources do not confirm it.