Mukesh Ambani, Nita Ambani’s Rs 15000 crore Antilia built on land of an…, Maharashtra State Board of Wakfs reveals SHOCKING…

Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest man, and his wife, Nita Ambani, live in the Antilia, one of the world’s most expensive private homes, valued at a staggering Rs 15000 crore (around USD 1.74 billion). But a recent affidavit filed in the Bombay High Court has claimed that the lavish 27-storey mansion was built on land that belonged to an orphanage, which was sold ‘illegally’ in 2005.

Antilia built on ‘illegal land’?

The affidavit submitted by Sandesh C Tadvi, joint secretary to the Minority Development Department and acting CEO of Maharashtra State Board of Wakfs, states that a ‘mischief’ was committed by the then chairman and CEO, when he ratified the sale of the orphanage land to Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani on March 9, 2025, Livelaw reported.

Notably, a Bombay High Court bench headed by Chief Justice Manjula Chellur, in an order dated July 21, 2017, had directed the State Board of Wakfs to clarify their stance on challenging the Charity commissioner’s permission on the sale of the orphanage land.

What stood there before Ambani’s Antilia?

The land where Mukesh Ambani’s Antilia stands today used to house the Currimbhoy Ebrahim Yateemkhana — an orphanage built by a wealthy businessman Sir Fazalbhoy Currimbhoy Ebrahim in 1895 for orphans from the Khoja Muslim community, to which Currimbhoy belonged to.

The orphanage was run by the Wakf board and in 2002, the board received permission to sell it to Mukesh Ambani’s Muffin-Antilia Commercial Private Limited, who reportedly paid $2.5 million for the land against a market value of $18 million. Later, the Ambanis sought permission to build their grand home on the property, the building plan was approved by the BMC in 2003, and construction began in 2006.

Antilia-Wakf Board legal battle

The Currimbhoy Khoja Trust, which was created to work for the upliftment of underprivileged children, had filed an application with the Charity Commissioner, seeking permission to sell the orphanage land to Mukesh Ambani. The permission was granted on August 27, 2002, and, almost a month after the Trust had sold the 4,532 sqm land Ambani’s Antilia Commercial Private Limited in July 2002 for Rs 210.5 million against a then market value price  Rs 1.5 billion.

However, the then Maharashtra State Board of Wakfs deemed the transaction illegal and sent a notice to Antilia Commercial citing violation of Section 52 of the Wakf Act, 1995, which deals with the recovery of Wakf property transferred in contravention of Section 51 that bars the sale of any immovable Wakf property without the sanction of the Wakf Board.

The notice was challenged before a Wakf Tribunal on April 22, 2004, and the CEO of the State Board of Wakfs settled the issue with the Trust during the suit, and the agreement was reached that the trustees would accept that the land had indeed been Wakf property. The tribunal ruled that an annual contribution be paid to the Wakf Board, and the trustees subsequently deposited Rs 16 lakh, as per Section 72 of Waqf Act, 1995,

Notably, the trust had stated that the land on which Antilia stand today, was not a Wakf property, but later retracted their claim.

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