Mumbai: Retired Bombay High Court judge Gautam Patel on Sunday lodged a complaint with the Gamdevi police in south Mumbai regarding a threat letter sent to his daughter's residence in London. This action comes days after he publicly disclosed the incident.
A senior police officer confirmed that the complaint details an anonymous letter threatening Justice Patel and his family with dire consequences. The letter was received while he was in the UK with his daughter. According to police sources, the letter demanded that Justice Patel release a video stating that his 2024 judgment was delivered under pressure.
Justice Patel had previously told The Times of India from London that the threat was in response to a 2024 judgment he delivered. The case, which is currently under appeal, involved establishing the succession and naming of the Syedna, the spiritual leader of the Dawoodi Bohra community.
The death threat was allegedly delivered on June 5 to the home of Justice Patel's daughter, weeks after she was physically assaulted on a London street. Over the past ten months, his family has received several anonymous threat letters, including one in 2025 accusing him of delivering the judgment fraudulently and under pressure.
On April 23, 2024, the Bombay High Court closed the Syedna successor question. Justice Patel dismissed a 2014 suit filed by Syedna Khuzaima Qutbuddin seeking to be declared the 53rd Dai based on a private nass of 1965. The court ruled that the nass conferred by the 52nd Dai, Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin, on his son, Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin, was valid.
After Justice Patel went public about the threats, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant raised the issue with the Indian High Commission in London during an official visit. The CJI sought protection for the former judge and his family in the UK and also asked the acting Chief Justice of Bombay High Court, Ravindra Vithalrao Ghuge, to take appropriate judicial and administrative steps.
