Saif Ali Khan has found himself back in legal crosshairs as the Madhya Pradesh High Court recently rejected his long-pending plea challenging the government’s decision to label his family’s ancestral properties in Bhopal as “enemy property.” The controversy dates back to a 2014 notice from the Custodian of Enemy Property Department, which brought the Pataudi family estates under the purview of the Enemy Property Act, effectively deeming them assets of a foreign national and subject to government control.In the recent turn of events, the Madhya Pradesh Hifh Court has overturned a 25-year-old ruling by a local trial court and ordered a complete retrial of the case. The court’s latest directive mandates that the matter be re-examined from the beginning, with instructions to the trial court to conclude proceedings within one year.The appeal was brought forth by the descendants of Nawab Hamidullah Khan, who objected to a previous verdict that had allocated the royal estate solely to Sajida Sultan—Hamidullah Khan’s daughter from his senior wife and the great-grandmother of actor Saif Ali Khan. The opposing heirs have maintained that the estate division should adhere to principles of Muslim Personal Law, rather than what they see as an unjust concentration of wealth in one descendant’s lineage.This ruling could potentially reshape the distribution of the storied Bhopal estate, rekindling one of India’s most high-profile royal property battles.Saif had challenged this classification in 2015 and obtained a temporary stay. However, on December 13, 2024, the High Court not only vacated that stay but also rejected his plea. The court gave the family 30 days to appeal to the designated tribunal, but with no appeal filed within the deadline, the Bhopal district administration is now legally empowered to begin taking over the contested properties.The crux of this conflict lies in the Enemy Property Act, enacted in 1958 and reinforced after the 1965 Indo-Pak war. The law allows the government to appropriate the assets of those who migrated to Pakistan or China and renounced Indian citizenship. The Pataudi properties fall under scrutiny due to Saif’s great-grandmother, Abida Sultan—eldest daughter of Nawab Hamidullah Khan—who moved to Pakistan post-Partition and relinquished her Indian citizenship.
