3 min readJun 15, 2026 05:44 PM IST
First published on: Jun 15, 2026 at 03:26 PM IST
The Gamdevi police have registered a case against an unidentified person for allegedly sending threatening letters to former Bombay High Court judge Justice Gautam Patel and his family, demanding that he publicly retract his 2024 judgment in the Dawoodi Bohra succession dispute.
According to police, Justice Patel, who returned to Mumbai from London on Sunday, approached the Gamdevi police station after receiving a series of anonymous threats over the past several months. A non-cognisable offence has been registered under Sections 351(3) and 351(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which deal with criminal intimidation.
Police said the sender allegedly threatened to harm Patel and his family unless he released a video recanting his April 2024 verdict. Investigations are underway to identify the person behind the threats.
The matter escalated on June 5 when Patel’s daughter received a fresh letter warning that “ample warning” had already been given and claiming that a contract had been handed to a gang, with the “next step” involving cremation. The letter also contained an SD card, which the family chose not to access, The Indian Express had earlier reported.
Justice Patel had previously told The Indian Express that there had been an attempted break-in at his residence in a London suburb in August 2025, which was reported to local police. A month later, on September 3, 2025, another threatening letter addressed to his daughter and son-in-law accused Patel of delivering a “false” and “corrupt” judgment in the Dawoodi Bohra succession case and warned of consequences if he failed to comply with the sender’s demands by the end of that month.
The sender allegedly demanded that Patel leave India, publicly disown his April 23, 2024 judgment through a YouTube video, give interviews to legal associations declaring the verdict erroneous, and even testify in court against his own ruling.
The threats relate to Patel’s landmark judgment that recognised Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin as the rightful successor to the office of Dai al-Mutlaq, the spiritual head of the Dawoodi Bohra community, following the death of his father, Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin, in 2014.
Patel’s daughter was also assaulted in London on April 22 this year while returning home after dropping her child at school. According to Patel, the attacker, described as a person wearing a mask and hoodie, repeatedly punched her in the face, leaving her with a fractured nose. The incident was reported to local police.
Justice Patel retired from the Bombay High Court on April 25, 2024. His succession verdict has since been challenged before a division bench of the Bombay High Court, where the matter remains pending.
The matter escalated on June 5 when Patel's daughter received a fresh letter warning (File photo) 
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