Six children of rags-to-riches dishwasher who became multimillionaire curry tycoon fight it out in High Court over his £4.6m fortune

The six children of an immigrant rags-to-riches dishwasher who ended up a multimillionaire curry tycoon are locked in a bitter court war over his £4.6m fortune.

Abdul Khan, who died aged 67 in 2008, built up a lucrative property empire in London having started out as a humble dishwasher in a West End hotel after travelling to the UK from Bangladesh in the 1960s.

He worked his way up to become a chef and eventually boss of a successful Indian restaurant, the Clapham Tandoori, on Clapham Common, before going on to buy up a string of south London properties, now worth millions.

His children are now in a legal tug of war over who owns the string of homes, with Mr Khan's oldest son, Muhammed Khan, 49, insisting he 'is the sole beneficial owner'.

But his five siblings, Ahmed, 43, Sarwar, 42, Shalima, 45, Farhana, 46, and Jennifer Khan, 44, claim Muhammed is a 'cuckoo' and insist they all have a stake in the property portfolio, which they say is held in a trust backed by their late father.

(Muhammed Khan, 49, (pictured at the High Court))

Barrister William East, for the five siblings, told London's High Court that canny entrepreneur Abdul Khan used profits from his successful curry house to buy houses in Tooting Bec, Norbury, West Norwood and Upper Norwood, currently worth around £4.6million.

Muhammed had gone through a rocky relationship with his father in the 1990s and the early 2000s, with Mr Khan criticising his oldest son having 'multiple children out of wedlock.'

But relations between father and son thawed when Muhammed began to embrace his responsibilities and become more involved in the family property empire, the court heard, reaching a point where he ended up almost 'freezing out' his younger brother, Ahmed.

Mr East said his clients seek a judge's confirmation that three of the properties are held on trust for the three sons in equal shares - and that the fourth property in Essex Grove, Upper Norwood, is held on trust for Abdul's three daughters.

(Muhammed is accused of 'freezing out' his younger brother Ahmed Khan (pictured) from the family fortune - which Ahmed said all six siblings had a stake in, following a binding trust deal made during a 2004 'family meeting')

(Jennifer Khan, one of the five siblings now battling her older brother Muhammed)

Ref: Six children of rags-to-riches dishwasher who became multimillionaire curry tycoon fight it out in High Court over his £4.6m fortune (dailymail)

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