Shiv Sena MP's driver gets Rs 150 crore land as 'gift' from Salar Jung kin

CHHATRAPATI SAMBHAJINAGAR: A mysterious gift deed transferring ownership of a three-acre parcel of land in Maharashtra, valued at around Rs 150 crore, from descendants of Hyderabad's famous Salar Jung family to Shiv Sena MP Sandipanrao Bhumre's driver has triggered more than just incredulous surprise at his sudden turn of fortune.

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Police is investigating how Jawed Rasul Shaikh, who has been driving around the MP and his MLA son Vilas Bhumre for 13 years, is linked to the estate of the erstwhile Diwan of Hyderabad, Salar Jung.

Jawed told TOI that he was cooperating with the inquiry and had already submitted the details investigators had asked for. "I share good relations with the descendants of the Salar Jung family, so they gifted the land to me," he said.

Police commissioner Pravin Pawar said Thursday that Jawed was summoned based on a complaint by a lawyer from Parbhani, flagging the "hibanama" (gift deed) in his name for what is regarded as "prime land" at Dawoodpura along Jalna Road in Sambhajinagar.

"We will scan Jawed's income tax returns and details of any other source of income. He needs to explain why anyone from the Salar Jung family would make a gift deed in his name, giving away three acres in a prime location," inspector Sambhaji Pawar, part of the EOW team probing the land transfer, told TOI.

Members of the Salar Jung family who signed the deed - Mir Mazhar Ali Khan and six of his relatives - are still to respond to EOW's notice to have their statements recorded, the officer said.

Vilas, who represents Paithan constituency, protested against police allegedly dragging him and his father into the controversy over a land transfer deed in Jawed's name. "EOW officials questioned me, too. Although Jawed is our driver, we don't have control over everything he does. In any case, hibanama is a legally valid process of gifting assets," he said.

Several members of the Salar Jung family served as prime ministers to the erstwhile Nizams of Hyderabad.

The gift deed executed by Mazhar Ali and six others states that they received their share of three out of 12 acres belonging to the clan at Bagsherganj in Dawoodpura after a prolonged litigation lasting till Jan 30, 2023. Police have found out that the gift deed in favour of Jawed was executed around the same time.

Lawyer Mujahid Khan, whose complaint led EOW to initiate the probe, said his curiosity was piqued by the fact that Jawed wasn't even remotely related to the Salar Jung clan.

"Why would the descendants of Salar Jung from Hyderabad give a gift deed to a person working as a driver in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, and that too after winning a legal battle for the same property. Also, a hibanama is legally valid only between blood relatives. The Salar Jung descendants and the driver are not only unrelated, they belong to two different sects of Islam."

Repeated calls to numbers belonging to members of the Salar Jung family went unanswered.