The UK High Court has ruled that funds transferred in 1948 by Hyderabad’s VII Nizam Osman Ali Khan to the high commissioner of Pakistan in Britain belong to India.
The Nizam had transferred 1,007,940 pounds and nine shillings in 1948 to the Pakistan high commissioner on the assumption of the possibility of joining Pakistan.
After Indian annexation of princely state Hyderabad, ownership for the money was contested by both India and Pakistan for 70 years.
The grandsons VII Nizam, Mukkaram Jah, and Muffakham Jah also laid claim to the same fund.
They say it had been gifted to them in a trust set up by their grandfather on April 24, 1963.
The original amount has now grown into £35m (Rs 306 crore).
UK’s Justice Smith has ruled that the 7th Nizam was beneficially entitled to the £35m fund, as were the princes and India.
The case came to be popularly known as “Hyderabad Fund Case”.