In 1741, the Nizam had just returned from Delhi. He was resolving a dispute between Muhammad Shah and Nadir Shah, who had invaded Northern India. The Nizam demanded that Safdar Ali, who was recognized as the Nawab of Carnatic, settle the debts of Subah Deccan. Safdar Ali, who had recently negotiated with the Marathas to an agreement of the indemnity and tributary payments, was hardly in a position to meet the demands of the Nizam and the Marathas. To manage these double payments, he imposed an additional levy on his regional town administrators. Safdar Ali's brother-in-law, Nawab Murtuza Ali Khan, an administrator of Vellore, refused to pay the increased levy. He prepared a plot with his wife (who was also the sister of Safdar Ali), and murdered Safdar Ali to declare himself as Nawab of the Carnatic. This declaration irritated other nobles and brought Nawab Saeed Muhammad Khan, the son of Safdar Ali who was in Madras, to be recognized as the Nawab of the Carnatic.