Descendants of Salar Jung clan gift Shiv Sena MP's driver land worth Rs 150 crore

Cops smell something fishy

A Shiv Sena MP's driver has received a gift from the descendants of the famous Salar Jung clan - a highly notable Hyderabad family.

According to a report by TOI, Jawed Rasul Shaikh, the driver of Shiv Sena MP Sandipanrao Bhumre, received a deed which transferred the ownership of a three-acre land in Maharashtra, worth Rs 150 crore.

Jawed has been driving the MP and his son MLA Vilas Bhumre for 13 years.

Investigations are being held by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Police as to how Jawed is linked to erstwhile Diwan of Hyderabad, Salar Jung.

According to the publication, Jawed said that he was cooperating with the probe and has also given all the necessary details as asked by the police.

"I share good relations with the descendants of the Salar Jung family, so they gifted the land to me," the publication quoted him as saying.

Police Commissioner Pravin Pawar said that Jawed was summoned based on a complaint by a lawyer from Parbhani which mentioned hibanama (the gift deed) in his name, when the land is considered as 'prime land' at Dawoopura 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," TOI quoted Sambhaji Pawar, an inspector and a part of the EOW team investigating the 'land gift'.

The officer said that the gift deed was signed by Mir Mazhar Ali Khan and his six relatives, who are yet to respond to EOW's notice to record their statements.

Meanwhile, MLA Vilas criticised the police for involving him and his MP father in Jawed's gift deed issue.

"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," the pblication quoted the MLA as saying.

The gift deed states that Mazhar Ali and the six other members of the Salar Jung family had received their share of land of three acres out of the 12 acres which belonged to the clan at Bagsherganj, the report said.

The land was received after a prolonged litigation which lasted until January 30, 2023. Police have discovered that the gift deed in Jawed's name was transferred around the same time.

Lawyer Mujahid Khan, on whose complaint EOW had started the investigation, said that he was curious as Jawed isn't related to the Salar Jung family even remotely.

"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," the report quoted him.