Retired Bombay High Court judge Gautam Patel and members of his family have faced threats in India and Britain since last year over his ruling in a long-running Dawoodi Bohra succession dispute, according to media reports and statements by the former judge.
The latest incident involved an anonymous letter received on Friday by Patel’s daughter, Aditi Patel, threatening violence against the family unless earlier demands were met, the Hindustan Times reported.
According to the report, the letter warned of the family’s “cremation” and claimed that a group had been paid to kill them. It was reportedly sent from a false London address and carried a German postal stamp.
A memory card enclosed with the letter was seized by police in Hertfordshire, England. The family did not access its contents due to concerns it could contain malicious software, the newspaper said.
The threats are linked to Patel’s April 2024 judgment in the Dawoodi Bohra succession case, one of the most significant disputes within the branch of Shia Muslim community.
The leader of the worldwide Dawoodi Bohra community is the al-Da-al-Mutlaq. This spiritual and temporal head is considered the direct representative of the hidden Imam, responsible for guiding followers in all aspects of their faith, daily life, and community welfare.
In that ruling, Patel held that Mufaddal Saifuddin was the legitimate spiritual leader of the Dawoodi Bohra community and dismissed a suit challenging his claim to the position.
The intimidation campaign began in August 2025 with an attempted break-in at the London home of Patel’s daughter, according to the Hindustan Times. The family subsequently received several letters demanding that Patel publicly renounce the judgment through a YouTube video.
One of the letters, cited by the newspaper, described the senders as members of the Dawoodi Bohra community seeking “justice” and referred to a syndicate allegedly hired to carry out threats.
In April, Aditi Patel was assaulted by a masked individual near her home in London, the newspaper reported. She sustained facial injuries.
The Dawoodi Bohra community, a Shia Muslim sect with roots in the western Indian state of Gujarat, became embroiled in a succession dispute following the death in 2014 of its spiritual leader, Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin.
Saifuddin, Burhanuddin’s son, was publicly designated as successor in 2011, according to his supporters. The claim was challenged by Burhanuddin’s half-brother, Khuzaima Qutbuddin, who argued that he had been appointed as successor.
After a trial lasting nearly a decade, Patel ruled in favor of Saifuddin, finding that the challenger had failed to establish his claim. Following Qutbuddin’s death in 2016, his son Taher Fakhruddin continued the legal challenge.
The Fakhruddin faction has appealed the ruling before a division bench of the Bombay High Court. The appeal remains pending.
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