The word Bhagyanagar is in Telugu means the city with surplus and Hyderabad was known by this name since centuries. The Nizams who ruled Hyderabad for several centuries were quite rich and adored respects among the Muslim community. The disintegration of the state of Hyderabad and the dispersal of the wealth of its Nizams is one of 20th century's most dramatic reversals of fortunes. The descendants of the Nizam, Nawab Najaf Ali Khan, grandson of the seventh Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan, wanted the foreign ministers of both India and Pakistan to initiate a dialogue of an out-of-court settlement over the wealth of the ruler of the erstwhile Hyderabad state lying locked up in a London bank for over 60 years.
After Independence before Hyderabad state joined the nation, the then Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan's finance minister Moin Nawaz Jung had transferred 10,07,940 pounds sterling and nine shillings in the name of then Pakistan high commissioner in London HI Rahimtoola in the National Westminster Bank, which is now called the Royal Bank of Scotland. India objected to the transfer and requested the bank to freeze the accounts. The Nizam descendents urged both the governments to unfreeze the accounts. They said, "Both the governments can claim the money but considering the present financial condition of the family, we request them to give up their claim if they have any such thing in mind and permit us to take the money." The investment is now estimated to be 30 million pounds (Rs.3 billion).
In 1947, Mir Osman Ali Khan’s territory had an income and expenditure equal to Belgium, and exceeded that of 20 member-states of the United Nations. His personal fortune was more remarkable still according to one contemporary estimate, it amounted to at least £100 million in gold and silver bullion, and £400 million in jewels. He also owned one of the world's great art collections.
In 1921 the then Nizam’s sons were in Nice and married the daughter and the niece of the last Caliph of Turkey, Abdul Majid II. Later the Caliph had nominated the Nizam's son as heir to the Caliphate, so uniting the supreme spiritual authority of the Muslim world with its greatest concentration of riches. His authority had been unassailable. There were wide speculations of reluctance of Hyderabad over joining the Republic of India in 1947, but later conceded. (With inputs from internet- AW AarKay)
