Saif Ali Khan Loses Rs 15000 Crore Pataudi Ancestral Property in UP, MP

The latest development in the long-running Bhopal royal family inheritance dispute is that the Madhya Pradesh High Court overturned a trial court order that declared actor Saif Ali Khan, his sisters Soha and Saba, and mother Sharmila Tagore the heirs to the properties. The heirs of Nawab Hamidullah Khan appealed the previous property distribution, which had favored Sajida Sultan, the Nawab's daughter from Khan's great-grandmother.

The previous ruling had granted the ancestral property to Sajida Sultan. The heirs of the former Nawab, who died in 1960, filed a trial court case in 1999, requesting a division of the private properties in accordance with the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Act, 1937, which was in effect at the time of the Nawab's passing. However, the High Court has instructed the trial court to restart the proceedings and conclude the hearing within one year. The Bhopal royal family's whole inheritance structure may change as a result of this order.

After the Madhya Pradesh High Court denied Saif Ali Khan's appeal against a government order to declare his family's ancestral lands in Bhopal, valued at Rs 15,000 crore, "enemy property," his legal troubles grew. The Pataudi family's properties in Bhopal were disclosed under the Enemy Property Act in a 2014 notice published by the Custodian of Enemy Property Department, which is where the proceedings are recorded.

Among the assets mentioned in the verdict are the Flag Staff House, where Saif grew up; the Noor-Us-Sabah Palace; Dar-Us-Salam; the Habibi Bungalow; Ahmedabad Palace; and the Kohefiza Property. The government can take possession of properties owned by anyone who immigrated to Pakistan after the Partition thanks to the Enemy Property Act.

In 2015, Saif challenged the declaration, and the High Court granted a temporary stay. But on December 13, 2024, the court removed the stay. According to the most recent decision, Saif and his family have 30 days to come forward and assert their ownership rights over the properties, but no claim has been made in that time frame.