Saif Ali Khan, the prince of Pataudi, faced a big blow after the Madhya Pradesh court declared his Rs. 15,000 crore family property as ‘Enemy property’. The court has overturned a previous trial court judgement that had named actor Saif Ali Khan, his mother, Sharmila Tagore and their family as the heirs to the ancestral properties in Bhopal.
Madhya Pradesh Court declared Saif Ali Khan’s Rs. 15,000 crore property as ‘enemy property’
For the unversed, the earlier verdict was in favour of Saif Ali Khan’s grandmother, Sajida Sultan, who was the daughter of Nawab Hamidullah Khan as the successor. However, the other heirs of the Nawab, who passed away in 1960, contested the judgement, and claimed that the property should be divided as per the Muslim Personal Law Act 1937. The case was brought into the court in 1999. Now, the Madhya Pradesh High Court has declared the property as ‘Enemy Property’. In simple terms, Saif has lost properties worth Rs. 15,000 crore belonging to the Pataudi family as a result of the judgment.
For the unversed, as per India’s Enemy Property Act, such assets, which are left by individuals who left India to reside in Pakistan after partition or became citizens there, can be taken into possession or seized by the government. Since Saif Ali Khan’s grandmother, Sajida’s sister, moved to Pakistan, the government can now manage or seize them.
It is worth mentioning that Saif had secured a temporary stay against the decision in 2015. However, the High Court lifted the stay in December 2024. In the most recent hearing, the court gave Saif and his family 30 days to assert their claims and reclaim their rights to the property. But no claims were submitted within the given time period.
More about Saif’s Pataudi palace and the dispute’s reason
The last recognised ruler of Bhopal had three daughters. One of them was Abida Sultan, who chose to migrate to Pakistan post-partition, while the other two sisters stayed in India. One of them was Saif Ali Khan’s grandmother, Sajida Sultan. However, the government considered Abida’s moving out of India, enough to categorise the property as Enemy Property.
The government can now acquire the Pataudi family’s properties in a legal and authorised manner. The Bhopal district administration can start to seize the same. The properties, valued at Rs. 15,000 crore, comprise several historical buildings and lands associated with the princely state of Bhopal.
Saif’s take on the ancestral property
Earlier, Saif had dismissed the buzz of him planning to buy back Pataudi Palaces and his ancestral home from a hotel chain. He called out the property’s price of Rs. 4900 crore as a ‘massive exaggeration. However, he did express his wish to get back his father’s palace, which was leased to Neemrana Hotels. In an interaction with Mumbai Mirror, Saif said:
“It’s impossible to put a value to it in monetary terms because emotionally, the property is priceless. My grandparents and father are buried there, there’s security, serenity and a spiritual connection there for me. The land goes back by a few centuries, but the palace that my grandfather built for my grandmother is around a hundred years old. He was the ruling monarch then, but since then, privy purses and titles have been abolished. These are different times which is why my father leased it out and Francis (Wacziarg) and Aman (Nath), who ran a hotel in the palace, took good care of the property and were like family. My mother (Sharmila Tagore) has a cottage there and she was always comfortable.”
What do you think about Saif losing out on such a huge part of his inheritance?
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