BHOPAL, July 5 — In a major legal setback for Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan and his family, the Madhya Pradesh High Court has set aside a 24-year-old trial court judgment that upheld their ownership of royal properties worth an estimated ₹15,000 crore. The court has now ordered a retrial of the decades-old inheritance dispute linked to Bhopal’s former princely state.
In a detailed order passed on June 30, Justice Sanjay Dwivedi directed the trial court to “decide the matter afresh” and, if needed, allow all parties to present further evidence in light of changed legal interpretations. “The impugned judgment and decree deserve to be and are hereby set aside,” Justice Dwivedi stated. “The trial court shall make all possible efforts to conclude and decide it expeditiously, preferably within a period of one year,” he added.
The case dates back to 1999 and concerns the division of private property belonging to Nawab Hamidullah Khan, the last ruling Nawab of Bhopal. After his daughter Abida migrated to Pakistan, the property passed to his other daughter Sajida Begum, who married Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi. Their son, the late cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, inherited the estate and passed it on to his family — wife Sharmila Tagore and children Saif, Soha, and Saba.
The trial court had in 2000 ruled in favor of the Pataudi family, citing a 1962 certificate from the Government of India that recognised Sajida Begum as the sole heir. However, this ruling was challenged by other heirs of Nawab Hamidullah Khan, including Begum Suraiya Rashid and Nawab Mehr Taj Sajida Sultan, who alleged that the partition of the Nawab’s personal assets had been unfair and not in line with Muslim Personal Law.
“The trial court relied on a judgment which has already been overruled by the Supreme Court,” Justice Dwivedi observed in setting aside the earlier verdict. The petitioners also contested the validity of the succession certificate issued to Sajida Begum, arguing it should not have excluded the remaining heirs.
The dispute stems from the period following the Bhopal Riyasat’s merger with the Union of India in 1949. The agreement preserved the Nawab’s personal properties as private assets and referenced the Bhopal Succession to the Throne Act, 1947, for determining rightful heirs.
With the High Court ordering a full retrial, the long-standing legal battle over one of India’s most valuable royal estates will return to the trial court for a fresh hearing — now under a strict one-year deadline.
