In a major legal setback, Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan and his family are no longer the legal heirs to the Bhopal royal family’s Rs 15,000 crore estate as the Madhya Pradesh High Court overturned a trial court’s 25-year-old order and ordered a fresh trial
In his order dated June 30, Justice Sanjay Dwivedi sent the case back to the trial court, saying that the previous decision was based on a Supreme Court judgment that had since been overruled.
“The trial court dismissed the suits relying on a precedent already set aside by the Supreme Court. These are suits for partition, and must be reconsidered to determine rightful shares,” said the High Court.
The Bhopal royal family estate once belonged to Nawab Hamidullah Khan, who was the last ruling Nawab of Bhopal Riyasat, and died in 1960. His daughter Sajida Sultan — Saif Ali Khan’s grandmother — succeeded the Nawab after her elder sister Abida Sultan migrated to Pakistan in 1950.
In 1962, the Government of India formally recognised Sajida Sultan as the rightful owner of Nawab Hamidullah’s private estate. Saif Ali Khan, Sharmila Tagore, Soha Ali Khan, and Saba Ali Khan subsequently inherited the properties.
Meanwhile, descendants of Hamidullah’s brother Obaidullah Khan and daughter Rabia Sultan have contested the inheritance, saying that the division of property should follow Muslim Personal Law, not political recognition or royal succession.
The Bollywood actor’s lawyer argued that the inheritance was governed by the merger agreement between the Bhopal Riyasat and India, which had decided that Sajida Sultan as the successor and rightful heir.
The petitioners said that property should be divided among all legal heirs of Nawab Hamidullah Khan.
The original 2000 trial court decision was largely based on a 1996 Allahabad High Court ruling related to the Rampur royal family. However, that judgment was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2019, rendering the basis for the Bhopal ruling invalid.
With the High Court now ordering a retrial, the case will return to the lower court for fresh hearings and a decision on whether Saif Ali Khan and his family are entitled to exclusive inheritance or if the estate should be divided among all legitimate heirs.
