Race hots up among Nizam’s heirs for his millions

After several decades of living off on ancestral money provided to them through royal trusts...

After several decades of living off on ancestral money provided to them through royal trusts, the descendants of the seventh and last Nizam of Hyderabad are hoping to ride on another gravy train after the Centre decided to make an out-of-court settlement for the Nizam’s frozen millions lying in the National Westminster Bank in UK.

Going by the rules of royal succession, Mukarram Jah, the first grandson of Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan, should receive the amount gained out of the out-of-court deal between India and Pakistan. Since there is no Nizam government now, Mukarram Jah’s brother Mufakham Jah, cousin Shahmat Jah and sister Fatima Fouzia will also stake a claim to the millions that would be freed after the deal. Then there are some 1,900 heirs who claim relationship with the Nizams, including 470 sons, daughters, grandsons and granddaughters. Besides, the Nizam’s Trust which was set up to take care of the Nizam’s descendants and property will also receive some money.

Third grandson of the Nizam, Shahmat Jah, who lives in Hyderabad, says the money should be divided among the original descendants of the Nizam. “There are several claimants, but it should be shared between only those who are direct descendants,” he adds.

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Jah says the Nizam’s direct descendants had in 1995 shared a major portion of the Rs 600 crore that they got after the Centre acquired the fabulous 173-piece jewellery collection of the Nizams. “I am in touch with Mukarram Jah, the first grandson, and we will chalk out a plan how to resolve the issue once the out-of-court settlement is done,” Shahmat Jah said on Saturday. “The Government should give my mother and me whatever is due.”

Himayat Ali Mirza, a great grandson of the Nizam, is one of the most vocal claimants and often threatens to go on indefinite fast if he is not given his share. The first grandson, Mukarram Jah, 75, who migrated to Australia after financial setbacks in Hyderabad has since moved to Turkey and was also involved in the legal battle to free the millions lying in the UK bank. He owns at least four palaces in Hyderabad and huge tracts of property. His brother Mufakham Jah, cousin Shahmat Jah and sister Fatima Fousia receive a large amount of money from the trusts set up by the Nizam. Both Mufakham and Fousia have long withdrawn from public life.

Belonging to the Asaf Jah dynasty that had links with the Moghuls, the seventh Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan had two sons, Moazzam Jah and Azam Jha, from his first wife Pasha Begum. But the Nizam bypassed both Moazzam and Azam and appointed Azam Jha’s grandson Mukarram Jah as a nizam after him, though he was never crowned. The Nizam had six other wives and 42 concubines. All their descendants claim to be heirs of the Nizam, once the richest person in the world and the Time magazine had him on its cover in February 1937.