Fresh legal blow for Saif Ali as Rs 150 billion royal property dispute ordered for retrial

In a significant legal setback for Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan and his family, the Madhya Pradesh High Court has overturned a two-decade-old trial court verdict, ordering a retrial in the high-profile Bhopal royal property dispute worth an estimated Rs 150 billion.

The case revolves around the inheritance claims to the vast estate of the late Nawab of Bhopal, Mohammad Hamidullah Khan, whose descendants — including Saif Ali Khan, his sister, and veteran actress Sharmila Tagore — have been seeking partition and possession of the ancestral properties since 1999.

A single bench of Justice Sanjay Dwivedi ruled that the 2000 judgment by the Bhopal District Court, which dismissed the family’s civil suits, was based on an outdated legal precedent set by the Allahabad High Court — a ruling that the Supreme Court overturned in 2020, reports NDTV.

The disputed properties, spread across various categories, have been at the centre of one of India’s longest-running royal inheritance battles. The plaintiffs argue that under Muslim Personal Law, the Nawab’s private assets should have been distributed among his heirs following his death in 1960, rather than passing entirely to his daughter Begum Sajida Sultan.

However, the Indian government had recognised Sajida Sultan as the sole successor, citing the 1949 Bhopal Merger Agreement and constitutional provisions.

The defence maintained that under the terms of the merger and the tradition of primogeniture, the Nawab’s private properties automatically passed to the appointed heir to the Gaddi (throne), negating division among other family members.

Finding flaws in the trial court's heavy reliance on the now-invalidated Allahabad ruling, the High Court invoked its authority under Order 14 Rule 23A of the Civil Procedure Code to remand the matter for a fresh hearing.

Noting the case’s prolonged pendency, the High Court directed the lower court to fast-track the retrial and strive to conclude it within a year.

The verdict marks the beginning of renewed legal proceedings in one of India’s most iconic princely family disputes, where questions of tradition, succession, and property rights remain fiercely contested.