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South Asia

Princely states, family firms and inheritance cases in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

93 storiesUnited StatesUnited KingdomIndiaChinaRussiaCaribbean islandsSingaporePakistanBangladeshUzbekistanAfghanistanNepal

What do the South Asia estate cases show?

A grandfather's word about a foreign investment is weak evidence when the paperwork sits in offshore companies. A man who stays married while living with a partner leaves the partner with no claim under Indian succession law.

Stories
93
Years
750 BCE to 2026
Main subjects
India and South Asia, Asian dynasties, Islamic and Persian empires
Legal traditions
Hindu law, Royal and church law
Updated
30 October 2026

Every story in South Asia, best-known first

Best-known first: cases from 1900 on, then the United States, then Europe, and the people most read about on English Wikipedia each month. Fiction, scripture and legend come last.

  1. 2004A Qatari prince's letter said Nawaz Sharif's father had willed his Gulf profits to a grandson, and courts fought for six years over four Park Lane flatsoffshoreleaks.icij.org and 4 more
  2. 2012Rajesh Khanna's live-in partner sued his widow and daughters for 14 years, and his bungalow was sold for Rs 90 crore and torn downThe Times of India and 5 more
  3. 1987Kishore Kumar's nephew agreed to sell his childhood home for Rs 14 crore, his son published a legal notice to stop it, and the house became a ruintheweek.in and 3 more
  4. 2020A Delhi court ruled that Sushant Singh Rajput's publicity rights died with him, so his father could not stop a film about his deathLiveLaw and 2 more
  5. 2022Sidhu Moose Wala's parents won his song copyright in court, had a son by IVF at 58, and were questioned by the state over the babyLiveLaw and 4 more
  6. 1982A helicopter killed Vic Morrow and two child actors on the Twilight Zone set in 1982, and director John Landis and four others were tried for manslaughter and acquitted in 1987vice.com and 1 more
  7. 2009Indira Gandhi's government jailed Jaipur's Rajmata and searched Jaigarh Fort for treasure for five months, and found noneCaseMine and 5 more
  8. 1941Rabindranath Tagore's 1913 Nobel gold medal and 49 other items were stolen from the Visva-Bharati museum in March 2004 and have not been recoveredtribuneindia.com and 3 more
  9. 2025A mob demolished the house where Sheikh Hasina's father was killed, and a tribunal sentenced her to death in absentia and ordered her assets confiscatednewsonair.gov.in and 2 more
  10. 1960Bhopal's heiress left for Pakistan, her sister's line took the palaces, and in 2025 a court reopened Saif Ali Khan's inheritanceLiveLaw and 4 more
  11. 1988Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar were born in Peshawar houses their families left at partition, the new owners refused to sell, and the province took both by compulsory purchaseaa.com.tr and 3 more
  12. 2024Ratan Tata's will gave a third of the residue to a little-known Jamshedpur businessmanbusinesstoday.in and 3 more
  13. 1982Indian troops disarmed Sikkim's palace guard in 1975; the last king died in New York, his heir died on a mountain road, and a federal committee was still deciding which palace property the family ownshcs.gov.in and 3 more
  14. 1981The 16th Karmapa died in Illinois in 1981; two rival successors were enthroned, and the Black Crown he left at Rumtek has gone unused sincewww2.kenyon.edu and 3 more
  15. 2022The Tata board removed Cyrus Mistry in 2016, and India's Supreme Court upheld it over the minority family's appealeconomictimes.indiatimes.com and 3 more
  16. 1974Karnataka took Mysore Palace during the Emergency, lost in court in 1997, and passed a law to take it again in 1998indiacode.nic.in and 4 more
  17. 1967Three days after Hyderabad surrendered in 1948, its minister moved £1 million to Pakistan's envoy; a London court gave it back to the Nizam's heirs 71 years laterThe National Archives, Find Case Law and 5 more
  18. 2019K.K. Modi's trust deed split his family into court cases, and his son accused his mother's side of having him assaulted at a board meetingindialegallive.com and 4 more
  19. 2003Dayanidhi Maran alleged his brother took control of Sun TV while their father was in a coma, then withdrew the notice two months laternsearchives.nseindia.com and 2 more
  20. 1960Mary Roy's brother told her to leave their father's cottage, she sued, and the Supreme Court gave Kerala's Syrian Christian daughters equal shares back to 1951LiveLaw and 3 more
  21. 2001Gwalior's Rajmata disinherited her son and barred him from her last rites; the Scindia property fight ran 40 yearstheprint.in and 2 more
  22. 1958Mahar families inherited village land in return for hereditary service; Ambedkar told them to give it up, and Bombay abolished the watans in 1958CaseMine and 2 more
  23. 2016Jayalalithaa left no will; a court gave her house to her niece and nephew, and the state took 21 kilos of her goldLiveLaw and 4 more
  24. 1851Begum Samru's heir was declared insane on his wife's petition, and after his death she contested his will leaving £200,000 to an Indian collegeUK Parliament, Hansard and 3 more
  25. 1832The British deposed the last king of Kandy, barred his family from the throne forever, and kept his throne at Windsor until 1934sundaytimes.lk and 4 more
  26. 2004Priyamvada Birla's will left a Rs 5,000 crore group to her accountant; the Birla family has fought it in court since 2004LiveLaw and 4 more
  27. 1707Aurangzeb was buried under a plain stone as he willed, and his sons fought for the throne; one said "a throne or a bier"Internet Archive and 1 more
  28. 2026Raymond's founder gave his son his 37 percent stake and says he was then pushed out of the family towergulfnews.com and 2 more
  29. 2020An unmarried Delhi man froze his sperm before chemotherapy, a court ruled it was property his parents inherit, and the government appealedscconline.com and 3 more
  30. 2018Crypto CEO Gerald Cotten died in India holding the only keys to C$215 million, and regulators found the money was already goneadvisor.ca and 3 more
  31. 2018A Delhi court forced a former chief minister to give blood for a paternity test; his son won, and was killed a year after the father diedindiatoday.in and 4 more
  32. 2016The Ranbaxy brothers sold their drug company for billions, owed the buyer Rs 3,500 crore, and were arrested over their lenderscroll.in and 2 more
  33. 2015Hamdard split at Partition, its Pakistani founder was shot dead in Karachi, and the Delhi heirs' fight over the waqf took Rooh Afza off Indian shelveslivelawbiz.com and 3 more
  34. 2002Dhirubhai Ambani died without a will; one son became Asia's richest man and the other told a court he was worth zerotribuneindia.com and 3 more
  35. 2002An orphanage trust sold its Mumbai plot for Antilia in 2002, the waqf board called the sale illegal, and the Bombay High Court dismissed the last challenge in 2025LiveLaw and 3 more
  36. 2001Nepal's crown prince shot dead the king, the queen and seven relatives, and was king for three days while in a comaBBC News and 3 more
  37. 1999Vineeta Sharma's father died in 1999 and the Delhi courts said she was too late to share the family property; the Supreme Court made every Hindu daughter a co-owner by birthapi.sci.gov.in and 3 more
  38. 1993A woman claiming to be heir of the kings of Awadh lived nine years in a Delhi railway station and won a palace; she was the widow of a university registrartribuneindia.com and 4 more
  39. 1991Travancore's last ruler died in 1991, the Kerala High Court said his brother could not inherit the temple's management, and the Supreme Court gave the family controlLiveLaw and 1 more
  40. 1989Faridkot's Maharaja lost his only son, and a will read three days after his death gave his forts and palaces to a trust run by his staffLiveLaw and 5 more
  41. 1987Four families held Tirumala's priesthood by birth and kept the temple jewels in turns; Andhra Pradesh abolished the inheritance in 1987LiveLaw and 5 more
  42. 1984A Maharana's will gave Udaipur's City Palace to his younger son, and 41 years later the heirs threw stones at its gatesmorungexpress.com and 7 more
  43. 1966The Nawab of Rampur's eldest son took all his private property in 1966; after 53 years the Supreme Court split it among 16 heirsapi.sci.gov.in and 2 more
  44. 1952A devadasi singer spent her fortune on a temple for the saint Thyagaraja, was barred from singing at his festival, and held her ownfeminisminindia.com and 5 more
  45. 1948Jinnah left his Bombay house to his sister; India took it as evacuee property, and his daughter died with her claim still pendingthequint.com and 3 more
  46. 1524Vasco da Gama was ordered out of his home town of Sines in 1507 and asked to leave Portugal before the King made him a count in 1519Project Gutenberg and 4 more
  47. 1799The British army broke up Tipu Sultan's gold throne to divide as prize money; his sword sold for £14 million in 2023 while descendants pulled rickshawsnam.ac.uk and 6 more
  48. 1944The last emir of Bukhara fled across a river on a raft in 1920 and left three sons behind; two were shot and the third publicly renounced himperipheralhistories.co.uk and 2 more
  49. 1916King Thibaw handed Burma's crown jewels to a British colonel in 1885, and the Nga Mauk ruby was never seen againInternet Archive and 8 more
  50. 1909A Bengal prince was cremated in 1909, a holy man claimed to be him, and the Privy Council confirmed it in 1946; he died two days laterCaseMine and 3 more
  51. 1908A Nawab of Dhaka pledged the Daria-i-Noor to the British in 1908, and Bangladesh has not opened the vault to see if it is still thereen.banglapedia.org and 3 more
  52. 1877Nepal's Rana prime ministers passed the office brother to brother by a roll; in 1934 the ruler struck off the sons of low-caste mothers, and their sons joined the party that opposed itcountrystudies.us and 4 more
  53. 1853The East India Company refused the Raja of Jhansi's deathbed adoption, took the state, and kept the boy's inheritance in trust for goodcbkwgl.wordpress.com and 3 more
  54. 1859Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy's baronetcy fund pays only an heir who gives up his own name, and every holder since 1859 has taken hisWikisource (primary text) and 3 more
  55. 1763The Jagat Seths financed the British at Plassey; six years later the Nawab had the two heads of the bank killed and their bodies thrown from a forten.banglapedia.org and 2 more
  56. 1664A Sikh guru disinherited his elder son for changing one verse for Aurangzeb, and rival claimants sat at Bakala waiting to be namedsrigurugranthsahib.org and 4 more
  57. 1866Bombay Khoja dissidents sued the first Aga Khan for control of the community's funds, and a British judge ruled in 1866 that he was their hereditary imamEncyclopaedia Britannica and 1 more
  58. 1864David Sassoon's sons split his firm in two, his daughter-in-law Flora was pushed out, and his great-grandson Victor lost Shanghaismu.edu and 3 more
  59. 1862A British officer shot the last Mughal emperor's sons in 1857, and in 2025 India's Supreme Court threw out his great-grandson's widow's claim to the Red FortLiveLaw and 4 more
  60. 1859The British refused the last Peshwa's adopted son his father's pension, and after 1857 dug his treasure out of the wells at BithurThe Gazette and 2 more
  61. 1858Maniram Dewan, the first Indian to plant tea commercially in Assam, was hanged in 1858, and the British auctioned his tea gardenslivehistoryindia.com and 2 more
  62. 1847Kenesary Khan was beheaded in 1847 and his skull sent to Omsk as a trophy; in 2021 Putin promised to return itrferl.org and 2 more
  63. 1842A Bellary liquor contractor died without a will, his brother claimed the estate as a Hindu joint family, and the Privy Council asked how the family livedassets.cambridge.org and 2 more
  64. 1316Malik Kafur read out a will that made a six-year-old sultan of Delhi, blinded the heirs, and was beheaded 35 days laterInternet Archive and 1 more
  65. 1236Sultan Iltutmish named his daughter Razia heir over his sons; the nobles crowned a son, and the people of Delhi put her on the throneInternet Archive and 1 more
  66. 1530Babur's son Kamran held his infant nephew Akbar on the walls of Kabul under fire, and Humayun had Kamran blindedInternet Archive and 1 more
  67. 1449Ulugh Beg kept back his son's share of the treasury, and the son defeated him, had him sentenced, and let the emirs kill him on the road to Meccaislamansiklopedisi.org.tr and 2 more
  68. 1693The Sabarna Roy Choudhury family sold three villages to the East India Company in 1698, and their descendants won a 2003 ruling that Job Charnock did not found Kolkatatribuneindia.com and 3 more
  69. 300The Markandeya Purana says King Harishchandra gave the whole earth to a Brahmin sage, then sold his wife, his son and himself to pay the feeInternet Archive and 1 more
  70. 1775A Bengali official accused Warren Hastings of bribery, was charged weeks later with forging a dead banker's bond, and was hanged under an English statuteWikisource (primary text) and 2 more
  71. 1773Raghunathrao's men killed the 17-year-old Peshwa in his palace, his widow bore a son who took the throne back, and Pune says the boy still cries for his unclelivehistoryindia.com and 2 more
  72. 1666Mughal prince Aurangzeb jailed his father for eight years and executed his brother to take the throneWikipedia (English) and 1 more
  73. 1651Bhutan's founder died in 1651, and his officials kept the death secret for 54 years while issuing orders in his namecountrystudies.us and 2 more
  74. 1627Asaf Khan crowned a Mughal prince to hold the throne for Shah Jahan, and Shah Jahan had him imprisoned and killedInternet Archive and 1 more
  75. 1560Burma's king offered a fortune for the Buddha's tooth, Goa's archbishop ground it to powder, and two new teeth appeared within six yearsmanushi.in and 2 more
  76. 969The Chola heir Aditya Karikala was murdered, and his brother Rajaraja seized the killers' lands and their relatives' lands years laterInternet Archive and 2 more
  77. 1969Kerala tradition says Parashurama gave the land to Brahmins; only eldest Namboodiri sons could marry so estates never split, and land reform took them in 1969keralamuseum.org and 4 more
  78. 1003Kalhana's chronicle says Queen Didda of Kashmir killed three grandsons on the throne and chose her heir with a heap of applesInternet Archive and 2 more
  79. 1405Soviet scientists opened Timur's tomb on 19 June 1941 over the objections of Samarkand's clerics, and the keeper who read out its warning was ordered arrestedEncyclopaedia Britannica and 2 more
  80. 1405Timur's will named a grandson in Kandahar, but another grandson took Samarkand and the treasury firstEncyclopaedia Britannica and 2 more
  81. 1030Mahmud of Ghazni left his throne to one son; the other blinded him, and the blind brother's son later killed the victorInternet Archive and 2 more
  82. 1030Britain carried gates from Mahmud of Ghazni's tomb to India in 1842 as the stolen gates of Somnath; they were Afghan cedar and are still in Agra Fortcollections.vam.ac.uk and 2 more
  83. 722The last Sogdian king of Panjikent claimed the throne of Samarkand, was captured on Mount Mugh in 722 and executed; his archive survived in the castle ruinsinvisibleeast.site.ox.ac.uk and 3 more
  84. 473The Culavamsa says Kassapa walled up his father alive after the king showed him a reservoir as his only treasurebooks.lakdiva.org.lk and 2 more
  85. 1A nomad chief and five women were buried with 20,000 gold objects in Afghanistan; keyholders hid the hoard for 14 years, and in 2021 it went out of sight againNBC News and 3 more
  86. 480 BCEThe Pali canon says eight peoples demanded the Buddha's ashes; one share, found in 1898, was pulled from auction in 2025accesstoinsight.org and 2 more
  87. 750 BCEThe Ramayana says a queen used two old promises to disinherit the heir, and his brother ruled for 14 years in the name of his sandalsvalmikiramayan.net and 3 more
  88. 400 BCEThe Mahabharata says the blind elder brother lost the throne, and his cousin staked the kingdom, his brothers, himself and his wife at diceWikisource (primary text) and 4 more
  89. 400 BCEThe Mahabharata says Bhishma gave up the Kuru throne and vowed never to marry so his father could wed, and the line ran out of heirsWikisource (primary text) and 2 more
  90. 1518Tradition says Hindus and Muslims fought over Kabir's body and found only flowers under the sheetsknagar.nic.in and 2 more
  91. 656Tradition says Caliph Uthman was killed while reading this Quran; Russia took it as a trophy, and Lenin gave it backcambridge.org and 3 more
  92. 850Jain tradition says Bahubali beat his elder brother for the kingdom, gave it up, and stood a year in meditation troubled that he stood on his brother's landInternet Archive and 2 more
  93. 400 BCEThe Mahabharata says King Yayati passed over four sons who refused to take his old age, and made the youngest his heirWikisource (primary text) and 2 more