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NDTV
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- NDTV
Explained: Why Saif Ali Khan Could Lose Rs 15,000 Crore Royal Legacy
Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan - the grandson of Iftikhar Ali Khan, the last ruler of the former princely state of Pataudi in Haryana - is on the brink of losing a chunk of his royal legacy after the Madhya Pradesh High Court set aside a trial court order recognising him, and his immediate family, as the sole owners of properties worth Rs 15,000 crore in and around Bhopal. These properties include the Noor-Us-Sabah Palace (now a luxury hotel) and Flagstaff House in the city, as well as palaces, royal bungalows, and other real estate scattered around the state. The actor must now wage a legal battle to hold on to those properties and his legacy; the High Court directed the trial court to re-examine the case and deliver a fresh ruling within a year. But that isn't the only challenge facing the actor - having quite the tumultuous 2025 after being stabbed in January during a home invasion - for he must also contest the government's 'enemy' property tag. Saif Ali Khan, Nawab of Pataudi (and Bhopal?) Technically, yes. Khan, 54, is the great-grandson of Hamidullah Khan, the last Nawab of Bhopal. Hamidullah Khan's second daughter, Sajida Sultan, is the actor's grandmother. Hamidullah Khan, Nawab of Bhopal. Photo: Carl Vandyk - Carl Vandyk, Public Domain The Nawab's first daughter and oldest child, Abida Sultan Begum migrated to Pakistan after the Partition - remember this point, we'll return to it shortly - while Sajida Sultan chose to stay in India, succeeded her father, and inherited the late Nawab's privately-held properties. That inheritance was acknowledged by the government in 1962; a Home Ministry notification said the government had no objection to the properties being transferred to her name. Again, remember this point. Sajida Sultan then married Iftikhar Ali Khan, the Nawab of Pataudi, and these properties were then passed down to her son, Mansoor Ali Khan, and then grandson, Saif Ali Khan. So far, so good. Now for the plot twist. The High Court Setback In 2000 a Madhya Pradesh trial court ruled that Saif and his family - his mother Sharmila Tagore and sisters Soha and Saba Ali Khan - were the rightful heirs to the Bhopal properties. That decision, however, was challenged by other descendants of Hamidullah Khan, who argued the last Bhopal Nawab's wealth should be divided according to Muslim Personal Law. Last week the High Court agreed and re-opened the question of succession. And so, if the trial court now reverses its original ruling, Saif Ali Khan will lose a portion, possibly quite a large one too, of his family's inheritance from Hamidullah Khan and Sajida Sultan. The 'Enemy Property' Act Meanwhile, a second (and possibly stiffer) challenge lurks in the shadows. Now, remember the points from earlier? In 2014 the government issued a notice to Saif Ali Khan that said the Enemy Property Act of 1968 would be applied to the Rs 15,000 crore in properties inherited from the former Bhopal ruler. The notice argued that since Hamidullah Khan's oldest daughter, his natural heir, had surrendered Indian citizenship by migrating to Pakistan, the properties were now considered as belonging to the 'enemy' and, therefore, subject to seizure by the Indian government. The Bhopal properties were inherited by Saif Ali Khan via Hamidullah Khan's second daughter, Sajida Sultan, who became the de facto heir after her sister's migration. In 1962 the government - then led by the late Jawaharlal Nehru - accepted the claim, and said she was "the sole successor to all private properties, movable and immovable, held by Nawan Hamidullah... no objection to such properties being transferred to Sajida Sultan Begum". In any case, Saif Ali Khan contested this claim in court and won a temporary stay. But in December 2024 the High Court dismissed his petition and lifted that stay, and gave the actor and his family 30 days to file an appeal. The dismissal was based on the government repealing the 1968 law on 'enemy' property "from a retrospective date" and set up an appellate authority - the Custodian of Enemy Property in Mumbai - to re-examine all such issues. And that authority overruled the 1962 notice recognising Sajida Sultan as the heir. It is unclear if Saif Ali Khan filed that appeal on time, particularly since the actor was stabbed on January 16, was hospitalised for nearly a week, and spent weeks after recovering from surgery. NDTV is now available on WhatsApp channels. Click on the link to get all the latest updates from NDTV on your chat.
Indian Express
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Saif Ali Khan's case: understanding the Enemy Property Act, a law born out of war and the legacy of Partition
Saif Ali Khan, the great-grandson of Hamidullah Khan, the last Nawab of Bhopal, is embroiled in a complex legal dispute with the Indian government. Several of his key assets, including the Flag Staff House and Noor-Us-Sabah Palace in Bhopal, have been designated as 'enemy properties' because Abida Sultan, Hamidullah Khan's eldest daughter, migrated to Pakistan. Interestingly, this lawsuit is one among the growing number of cases where claimants are seeking ownership of enemy properties. But what is the Enemy Property Act, when was it enacted, and where does it originate from? The Enemy Property Act was passed by the Parliament in 1968. In Siyasi Muslims: A Story of Political Islams in India (2019), author Hilal Ahmed argues that the act 'empowered the government,' to regulate the appropriation of property in India owned by those who have taken up Pakistani nationality. Authors Onkareshwar Pandey and Manmohan Sharma, in The Issue of Enemy Property and India's National Interest (2011), explain that the act bestowed the Indian government with the sole right to acquire the properties of those who adopted the nationality of Pakistan or China following the wars between India and Pakistan in 1965 and 1971, and the Sino-Indian War in 1962. Initially called evacuee property, these properties were placed under the watchful eye of custodians when their original owners left for Pakistan. Following the India-Pakistan war of 1965, both countries agreed, in the Tashkent Declaration of 1966, to discuss the return of property seized by the other side. 'All that occurred instead was a change in nomenclature, as evacuee property came to be redesignated as enemy property,' says political scientist Niraja Gopal Jayal in Citizenship And Its Discontents: An Indian History (2013). While Pakistan sold off its enemy properties owned by Indians who migrated during 1965–1976, the custodian of enemy property in India continues to hold such assets, estimated to be worth thousands of crores. As of today, there are approximately 2,000 enemy properties spread across the states of West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, and Gujarat. In The Long Partition and the Making of Modern South Asia: Refugees, Boundaries, Histories (2007), author Vazira Fazila-Yacoobali Zamindar draws attention to the post Custodian of Enemy Property that was established in Britain during the years of the Second World War (1939-1945). 'It was a part of the 'trading with the enemy' legislation which allowed the British government to take over the properties of 'belligerent enemies' in Britain, which included citizens of Germany, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria, as well as 'technical enemies,' which included citizens of Czechoslovakia and Poland,' she notes. According to Zamindar, properties of 220,000 people were seized through the legislation. The first 'high-profile' case, concerning the Enemy Property Act, was that of Mohammed Amir Mohammed (M A M) 'Suleiman' Khan, the Raja of Mahmudabad in Uttar Pradesh in 2005. After a battle that lasted 32 years, the Supreme Court awarded Khan the right to take over his late father's extensive properties. Khan's father had migrated to Pakistan in 1957, leaving properties that, according to Jayal, account for almost half of all enemy properties in the country (1,100 of 2,100). M A M Khan was twice elected to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly, and used his loyalty as an Indian citizen to his favour. Jayal notes that Khan, in a public response, said: 'I petitioned everyone, saying my mother and I are Indians, not enemies. I wanted the stigma of 'enemy of state' on my family to be removed and I am happy that I have won this battle.' In the aftermath of the Supreme Court judgment in the Mahmudabad case, Indian courts were flooded by many such claimants of enemy properties. One such case, cited by Pandey and Sharma, was filed in the Allahabad High Court where a person claimed nearly one-third of Agra, including the Taj Mahal. Interestingly, the claimant also furnished documents proving his lineage. This led the Indian government to propose an amendment to the Enemy Property Act of 1968, 'to prevent the indiscriminate purchase and sale of 'enemy property,' to debar courts from passing more such orders giving away enemy property worth huge sums of money,' notes Jayal. Although the Bill was withdrawn, the government, on July 2, 2010, promulgated the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Ordinance. According to scholars, the ordinance sought to undo the effect of the many claims on enemy properties by vesting all rights in the custodian and the central government. Muslim members of the Parliament, however, protested and urged the prime minister to reconsider this, keeping in mind the rights of minorities since most of those claiming the enemy property were Muslims. The Raja of Mahmudabad, as cited by Jayal, asked: 'Are they being punished for choosing to stay back in India even though the SC has upheld their rights as Indian citizens?' Prime minister Manmohan Singh acceded to the request on August 4, 2010, withdrawing the existing law. Finally, the Union Cabinet approved the proposal of the Ministry of Home Affairs to introduce the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Second Bill, 2010. The Bill was to cover '80 properties seized under the Defence of India Rules of 1962 after their Chinese-origin owners migrated or were deported, and 2,168 highly prized properties declared 'enemy property' through the 1968 law after their owners migrated to Pakistan following the 1965 war,' state Pandey and Sharma. While Saif Ali Khan's case has thrust the 1968 act back into the limelight, what remains, according to Jayal, is the fact 'of its being strongly inflected by religious identity and a presumptive association with a hostile neighbour, Pakistan.' The legacy of the Partition of British-India endures in the disputed status of over 2,000 properties, scattered across India. Nikita writes for the Research Section of focusing on the intersections between colonial history and contemporary issues, especially in gender, culture, and sport. For suggestions, feedback, or an insider's guide to exploring Calcutta, feel free to reach out to her at ... Read More
Pink Villa
07-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Pink Villa
How is Saif Ali Khan related to Bhopal's Nawab Hamidullah Khan's property and what's the dispute? Know MP HC's order
Saif Ali Khan and his family have suffered a big blow in the long-running dispute over his ancestral property of Bhopal's Nawab Hamidullah Khan. The Madhya Pradesh High Court has issued a significant decision in the ongoing matter. A fresh hearing of the case has been ordered by the Jabalpur Bench, and the final decision will decide what the Jewel Thief actor and his family get. What is the decision of the Jabalpur Bench? According to reports by India TV, the Jabalpur Bench has cancelled the 25-year-old decision given by the Bhopal trial court and ordered a fresh hearing of the case. The order requests that the court render a new decision on the property dispute within one year. How is this property related to Saif Ali Khan? The property in question belongs to Saif Ali Khan's great-grandmother, Sajida Sultan. What is the dispute all about? Earlier, the trial court had given the entire property to Sajida Sultan (great-grandmother) of Saif Ali Khan. She is the daughter of the Nawab's elder Begum. The dispute started when other heirs of Nawab Hamidullah Khan challenged the court's decision. They demanded an equitable division of property under Muslim Personal Law. According to High Court Lawyer Harshit Bari, this case will now be heard again, and the new decision will decide who will get the rights to Nawab's property worth billions and how much. Saif Ali Khan's work front Talking about his work front, Saif was last seen in Netflix's thriller film Jewel Thief: The Heist Begins. It also starred Jaideep Ahlawat in a pivotal role. He has a couple of exciting films in his kitty now. He has Go Goa Gone 2, which is directed by Raj & DK alongside Abhishek Banerjee and Radhika Madan in the lead roles. Apart from this, Akshay Kumar and Saif Ali Khan are set to reunite after 17 years for an exciting thriller directed by Priyadarshan. The film has been officially titled Haiwaan, meaning beast in English, if sources close to Hindustan Times are to be believed. It is said to promise an edge-of-the-seat experience.
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First Post
07-07-2025
- Entertainment
- First Post
How did Saif Ali Khan inherit Nawab of Bhopal's Rs 15,000-cr properties? Has he lost them now?
Last week, the Madhya Pradesh High Court dismissed a decades-old trial court ruling that had made Saif Ali Khan, his mother and two sisters the sole legal heirs to the properties of the Nawab of Bhopal. As the case returns to the trial court, has the Bollywood actor and his family lost the royal properties worth over Rs 15,000 crore? read more Saif Ali Khan and his two sisters — Soha and Saba. Instagram/sabapataudi In a big blow for Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan and his kin, the Madhya Pradesh High Court last week set aside a decades-old trial court ruling that had made him, his two sisters and mother the sole legal heirs to the properties of the erstwhile Nawab of Bhopal. Their inheritance was challenged in an appeal by the heirs of Nawab Hamidullah Khan. Saif Ali Khan is also fighting a separate legal battle over these properties. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD What is the case? How did Saif Ali Khan inherit the Bhopal royal properties? Let's take a closer look. Why Saif Ali Khan is an heir of Nawab of Bhopal's properties Saif Ali Khan and his family came to inherit the properties of the erstwhile Nawab of the Bhopal princely state from his father's mother, Sajida Begum. Sajida, the second daughter of Hamidullah Khan — the last ruling Nawab of Bhopal — became the legal heir of her father's properties after her elder sister Abida Begum migrated to Pakistan in 1950. Sajida then went on to inherit the Nawab title as well as properties estimated to be worth over Rs 15,000 crore. Sajida Sultan inherited the title of the Nawab of Bhopal. Wikimedia Commons Sajida Begum married Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi, the Nawab of Pataudi. Their son was the popular cricketer, Mansoor Ali Khan 'Tiger Pataudi'. Mansoor and veteran actor Sharmila Tagore have three children — Saif, Soha, and Saba Ali Khan. Saif Ali Khan, the grandson of Sajida and the Nawab of Pataudi, inherited a share of the Bhopal properties. These include thousands of acres of land in and around Bhopal, along with estates such as Flag Staff House, Noor-Us-Sabah Palace Hotel, Dar-Us-Salam, and Ahmedabad Palace. The dispute over Bhopal royal properties A case was filed by other family members of Hamidullah Khan, including his third daughter, Rabia Begum, and his elder brother, Obaidullah Khan. Hamidullah Khan had two wives, Maimoona Sultan and Aftab Jahan. Maimoona and Khan had three daughters: Abida Sultan, Sajida Sultan, and Rabia Sultan. When the princely state of Bhopal merged with the Union of India in 1949, it was decided that the absolute ownership of the Nawab's personal property and the succession to the throne would be governed by the Bhopal Succession to the Throne Act, 1947. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Senior advocate Jagdish Chavan, who has represented Saif's father, told ThePrint that the Nawab's property would have gone to the eldest son as per the Bhopal Succession to the Throne Act. However, due to no male heir, Abida Sultan, the eldest daughter, would have inherited the throne and the property. 'If one goes by the succession act, Abida was the successor. But she was a resident of Pakistan and hence, the property would have simply been declared as enemy property,' Chavan said. Sajida Sultan's husband's political friendship helped her to inherit the Nawab title and Bhopal properties. 'At the time, Jawaharlal Nehru was the Prime Minister and shared a friendship with Iftikhar Ali Khan, the grandfather of Saif Ali Khan. So, a year after the death of Nawab Hamidullah Khan, his second daughter, Sajida Sultan—after Abida Sultan—was made the successor. Sajida was married to Iftikhar,' the advocate added. In the 1970s, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi abolished the privy purse, a payment made by the Indian government to the ruling families of former princely states as part of the merger of their states with India after Independence. Royal titles were also discontinued. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Following this, 'Maimoona Sultan and the third child, Rabiya Sultan, filed a partition suit and sought a rendition of accounts of the Nawab's property in the district court. They demanded partition under Muslim Personal Law (Shariat). This was in 1971,' Chavan told ThePrint. Obaidullah Khan, Hamidullah Khan's brother, who also received privy purses filed another suit. The family members of Hamidullah and his brother are seeking partition and succession of the Nawab's private properties as per the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Act, 1937. In 2000, the district court in Bhopal ruled on both suits. 'As per the judgment, according to the Bhopal Throne Succession Act, 1947, and Notification of the Government of India, Sajida Sultan remained the successor of the entire property of Hamidullah Khan and no partition based on Muslim law was recognised,' Chavan said. As the judgement was not in favour of the last ruling Nawab's other family members, they approached the Jabalpur bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court against the trial court's order. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The appellant heirs had argued in the High Court that the trial court incorrectly made the assumption that the Nawab's private properties were part of the throne and hence would automatically go to the successor to the throne, as per Indian Express. On June 30, the Madhya Pradesh High Court HC dismissed the 25-year-old trial court order that upheld Saif Ali Khan and his family as the rightful owners of the properties of the Nawab of Bhopal. It also directed 'the trial Court shall make all possible efforts to conclude and decide it expeditiously, preferably within a period of one year.' The High Court has now ordered a fresh trial. After the setback, advocate Chavan believes the Bollywood actor and his kin would only get a small part of the Bhopal royal assets. 'Saif Ali Khan, by my calculation, will receive only two to three per cent of the Nawab's property,' he was quoted as saying by the digital news outlet. 'The family isn't left with much legal recourse now.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD What's the Enemy Properties case? The Bhopal royal properties that went to the Pataudi family were declared as ' enemy property' in 2014 by the Custodian of Enemy Property Department. The migration of Abida Sultan, the Nawab of Bhopal's heir apparent, to Pakistan was the government's basis for claiming the properties as 'enemy property.' Under the Enemy Property Act, 1968, the Indian government can seize the properties and companies of individuals who took Pakistani nationality. In 2015, the Pataudi family moved the MP High Court against the Custodian's notice. The HC put a temporary stay on the government's 'enemy property' order at the time. Four years later, the court recognised Sajida Sultan as the Nawab's legal heir. However, in January this year, the High Court dismissed Saif's petition and lifted the stay. It also asked the Bollywood actor to approach the appellate authority against the government order. It remains unclear whether Saif moved the tribunal by January 12. With inputs from agencies
The Hindu
05-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
M.P. High Court reverses lower court order that granted ownership of ancestral properties to Saif Ali Khan, family
The Madhya Pradesh High Court has set aside a 25-year-old order of a lower court, that had upheld the ownership of actor Saif Ali Khan and his family over properties worth thousands of crores inherited from the erstwhile rulers of Bhopal, ordering a retrial of the matter. In an order dated June 30, a single bench of Justice Sanjay Dwivedi set aside the judgement and decree of the district court in Bhopal, while asking it decide the matter afresh expeditiously, preferably within a year. The matter pertains to a ownership dispute among the descendants of the last ruler of the princely state of Bhopal, Nawab Hamidullah Khan, who had three daughters — Abida Sultan, Sajida Sultan and Rabia Sultan — with his first wife Maimoona Sultan. While Abida migrated to Pakistan, Sajida married Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi. Their son, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, former Indian cricket team captain, married actor Sharmila Tagore. The 2000 order of the trial court had declared the ownership of Ms. Tagore, her son Mr. Ali Khan, and her two daughters Soha Ali Khan and Saba Ali Khan. The order, however, was challenged by Begum Suraiya Rashid, granddaughter of Hamidullah Khan's elder brother Obaidullah Khan, and Rabia Sultan through separate petitions in the High Court. They claimed that after Hamidullah Khan's death in 1960, the properties should have been divided among the petitioners and the defendants — the Pataudi family as per the Muslim Personal Law. They also challenged a 1962 order of the Union Government that recognised Sajida Sultan, who was declared the Nawab of Bhopal after her father's death, as the sole successor of the properties. Justice Dwivedi, however, said that the trial court had dismissed the plaintiff's suits 'without considering the other aspects of the matter' and by relying upon an order of the Allahabad High Court, which as later overruled by the Supreme Court. 'In my opinion, the impugned judgment and decree deserve to be and are hereby set aside. The matters are remanded back to the trial Court for deciding it afresh and if so required, the trial Court can allow the parties to lead further evidence in view of the subsequent development and changed legal position. It is made clear that since the suits were initially filed in the year 1999, therefore, the trial Court shall make all possible efforts to conclude and decide it expeditiously, preferably within a period of one year,' Justice Dwivedi said. The move is seen as a setback to the Pataudi family as the High Court, in December 2024, has already rejected Mr. Ali Khan's 2015 plea challenging a Union Government order declaring the inherited properties worth around ₹15,000 crore as 'enemy property' under the Enemy Property Act. The High Court had asked him to approach an appellate authority, constituted by the government for adjudication of disputes in regard to enemy property, with the matter. However, no appeal was reportedly filed within the given time frame. The assets include various luxury properties such as Bhopal's Flag Staff House, a hotel, a palace and several acres of land in and around Bhopal.
