Mukesh Ambani, the world's ninth wealthiest man, moved his wife and three children into Antilia, their 27-storey tower block home on Mumbai's Arabian seafront last year.
The home, which is claimed to have cost more than $1 billion (£615 million), has three helipads, a 50-seat cinema, several swimming pools, a ballroom, six floors of parking for 160 cars and space for 600 domestic staff.
It was built to crown his rise from the son of a petrol pump attendant to India's most powerful man with a personal fortune of more than £16 billion. But the petro-chemical magnate could lose it.
Mohammed Arif Naseem Khan, the local minority affairs minister, told the state assembly that the plot had been illegally sold by a children's charity which ran an orphanage on the site.
He said the land was owned by the Waqf Board, a trust which controls Muslim heritage properties and charitable institutions throughout India.
It had given the plot to a charity to use as an orphanage for Muslim children, but the Currimbhoy Ebrahim Khoja Orphanage Trust sold it to Mr Ambani's company in 2002 for £3 million.
The deal was approved by a charity commissioner, but not by the Waqf Board, which has since launched court action to recover the site.
Mr Khan said: "We have appointed an enquiry commission to investigate the matter and the probe is still on."
A decision on whether to call in India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) would not be made until the current inquiry had been completed, he added.
ND Pathan, chief executive of the Maharashtra Waqf Board, claimed the sale was illegal and neither the children's charity nor the charity commissioner were authorised to allow it to be sold.
A spokesman for Mr Ambani's Reliance Industries Limited said the dispute was a matter between the charity and the Waqf Board. "It was always the property of the Waqf," he said. The orphans living at the home were moved to another property at the time of the sale." The charity has denied any wrongdoing.
Richest man in India may lose 27-storey home - Telegraph
The home, which is claimed to have cost more than $1 billion (£615 million), has three helipads, a 50-seat cinema, several swimming pools, a ballroom, six floors of parking for 160 cars and space for 600 domestic staff.
It was built to crown his rise from the son of a petrol pump attendant to India's most powerful man with a personal fortune of more than £16 billion. But the petro-chemical magnate could lose it.
Mohammed Arif Naseem Khan, the local minority affairs minister, told the state assembly that the plot had been illegally sold by a children's charity which ran an orphanage on the site.
He said the land was owned by the Waqf Board, a trust which controls Muslim heritage properties and charitable institutions throughout India.
It had given the plot to a charity to use as an orphanage for Muslim children, but the Currimbhoy Ebrahim Khoja Orphanage Trust sold it to Mr Ambani's company in 2002 for £3 million.
The deal was approved by a charity commissioner, but not by the Waqf Board, which has since launched court action to recover the site.
Mr Khan said: "We have appointed an enquiry commission to investigate the matter and the probe is still on."
A decision on whether to call in India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) would not be made until the current inquiry had been completed, he added.
ND Pathan, chief executive of the Maharashtra Waqf Board, claimed the sale was illegal and neither the children's charity nor the charity commissioner were authorised to allow it to be sold.
A spokesman for Mr Ambani's Reliance Industries Limited said the dispute was a matter between the charity and the Waqf Board. "It was always the property of the Waqf," he said. The orphans living at the home were moved to another property at the time of the sale." The charity has denied any wrongdoing.
Richest man in India may lose 27-storey home - Telegraph
