In a major legal setback for Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan, the Madhya Pradesh High Court has upheld the Indian government’s decision to declare his inherited family property in Bhopal as ‘enemy property’, putting a massive estate worth Rs 15,000 crore at risk of seizure.
The court’s decision comes nearly a decade after the Enemy Property Supervisory Department issued a notice in 2014, classifying the Pataudi family’s sprawling estates in Bhopal under the Enemy Property Act and ordering their confiscation. Though Saif Ali Khan managed to secure a stay order against the move in 2015, that protection has now been lifted.
Properties under contention include some of Bhopal’s most historic and lavish estates: Flagstaff House (where Saif spent much of his childhood), Noor Al-Sabah Palace, Darul Salam, Habibi’s Bungalow, Ahmedabad Palace, and the Kohifza estate, among others.
The High Court’s ruling also revives a complex inheritance dispute, sending the matter back to the trial court to decide whether only Sajida Sultan (Saif’s grandmother and daughter of the last Nawab of Bhopal, Hamidullah Khan) and her descendants are the rightful heirs, or if other heirs under Muslim Personal Law also have a claim. The trial court has been directed to deliver a decision within a year.
What is the Enemy Property Act?
The Enemy Property Act allows the Indian government to take possession of properties owned by individuals who migrated to Pakistan or China after Partition. In this case, the twist lies in the migration of Abida Sultan, Hamidullah Khan’s eldest daughter, to Pakistan in 1950. The Indian government argues that this migration makes the Bhopal estate “enemy property”, even though Sajida Sultan, the second daughter, stayed in India and married Nawab Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi—making Saif Ali Khan her direct descendant.
What’s Next?
The verdict puts Saif Ali Khan’s potential inheritance—estimated at over Rs 15,000 crore—on the line, and opens the door to a prolonged legal battle. Whether or not the Pataudi scion and his family will retain any part of their princely legacy now lies in the hands of the trial court, which must navigate a labyrinth of personal law, historical context, and geopolitical classification.
This royal inheritance dispute now threatens to become one of the most high-profile legal property battles in modern Indian history.