Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan has lost his claim to ancestral properties worth 150 billion Indian rupees or $1.7 billion.

India’s Madhya Pradesh high court has ruled that properties fall under the ‘Enemy Property Act,’ dismissing Khan and his family’s challenge, delivering a major legal and emotional setback.

The judge, Justice Sanjay Dwivedi, sent the case back to the trial court with instructions to review the claims again and finish proceedings within a year. During this time, News18 reported, the family cannot call these properties their own.

Khan owes his lineage to an aristocratic family that once ruled the former princely states of Pataudi and Bhopal in India.

For years, Khan, his mother and sisters, were recognised as the rightful heirs to the sprawling estate. Khan and his family are also fighting for a claim over his father’s Pataudi family estate. Both properties fall under the category of ‘enemy property’ as per Indian law.

The dispute over Saif Ali Khan’s ancestral properties began on December 19, 2014, when the Custodian issued a notice claiming the Pataudi family’s properties in Bhopal were enemy property.

The dispute stems from the relocation of Abida Sultan, one of the heirs, to Pakistan. Abida is the sister of Sajida, Saif Ali Khan's grandmother. Sajida married the cricketer Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi. Their son was the cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi. The legal argument of the court is that since Abida, who was the eldest among the immediate heirs, had moved to Pakistan, the estate has become the Indian government's property.

On February 25, 2015, these properties were officially declared enemy property. The Madhya Pradesh High Court subsequently granted the family a stay order.

The Act

After the 1962 Indo-Chinese War and the 1965 Indo-Pakistan War, India introduced the Enemy Property Act, 1968, to regulate properties within the country owned by Pakistani nationals.

Under this act, the Indian government is authorised to seize ownership of properties belonging to individuals or families classified as “enemies” who migrated to China or Pakistan during or after 1947. These properties are managed by a government entity known as the Custodian of Enemy Property for India.

Pakistan has a similar Enemy Property Law, enacted in 1969.

The Indian government has also introduced further rules and guidelines, including the Enemy Property Rules, 2015. Subsequent orders from 2018 to 2020, also outlined procedures for transferring, disposing of, or selling enemy properties. These measures ensure structured management and disposal of such assets under the Act’s provisions.

In 2017, amendments to the 1968 Act expanded the definition of “enemy subject” to include the enemy’s legal heirs and successors, regardless of their citizenship status.

Currently, the Custodian holds 13,252 enemy properties valued at over a trillion Indian rupees or about $11.5 billion.

The Pataudi family’s predicament is not unique. The Raja of Mahmudabad, Amir Mohammad Khan, faced a similar battle spanning over 32 years.