A Bombay High Court judge has ordered a police enquiry into an alleged “attempt to frame" him after a lawyer made repeated calls to his wife offering to urgently buy their Mumbai flat [Sabina Lakdawala v Feroze Lakdawala].The phone calls had been made just days after the Court had directed Bar Council to initiate proceedings against another advocate, one Vijay Kurle, who on the day of pronouncement of a judgment in a case had sought adjournment.Justice Madhav Jamdar ordered the police to conduct an enquiry into the phone calls made by advocate Partho Sarkar between April 22 and April 24 as well as a call made in October last year. Sarkar is stated to be a close associate of Kurle. "Accordingly, Higher Official of the State of Maharashtra / the Senior Police Inspector, Malabar Hill Police Station, Mumbai to conduct the enquiry with respect to phone calls made by Mr. Sarkar between 22nd April 2025 to 24th April 2025 as also even the phone call made on 29th October 2023 and submit report to the Registrar General of this Court," the Court ordered on April 29.Justice Jamdar, who disclosed the information about these calls on April 29, said that on April 22 and 23, advocate Sarkar contacted his wife several times about purchasing a jointly owned flat that had been listed on an online portal.The next day, Justice Jamdar spoke to Sarkar himself and informed him that he was a sitting judge of the Bombay High Court.“After the conversation with him was over, within 2 to 3 minutes, I realised that the said laughter was not natural and therefore I became suspicious,” the Court recorded in the order..After that conversation, Justice Jamdar had checked his wife’s phone and discovered that it was Sarkar’s WhatsApp profile and identified him as an advocate. Despite being told that he was speaking to a High Court judge, Sarkar had failed to disclose that he was a lawyer. The judge said that this interaction coupled with a missed call from Sarkar the following day, raised serious red flags..The Court has now linked these calls to the order passed on April 9, in which it directed an inquiry into the conduct of advocate Kurle. The Court has also taken note of the conduct of Advocate Mathews Nedumpara, a close associate of Kurle..After the conversation with him was over, within 2 to 3 minutes, I realised that the said laughter was not natural and therefore I became suspicious.Justice Madhav Jamdar.Nedumpara on April 17 had accused the Court of insulting him by asking him to take the seat. He is also stated to have said that he was not the slave of the Court, before leaving the courtroom without permission. He had then been called back by court staff.Justice Jamdar said these comments came immediately after the April 9 order against Kurle and also took note of Nedumpara's past conduct."After this Court passed the order dated 9th April 2025 in Civil Revision Application No.189 of 2025 recording unprofessional conduct of Mr. Vijay Kurle and directing that Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa should conduct appropriate enquiry in his conduct, when this matter was listed before this Court on 17th April 2025, Mr. Nedumpara made certain statements prima facie with an intention to humiliate and browbeat this Court and tarnish image of this Court, which amounts to contempt of the Court," the Court said in the April 29 order..The Court said Sarkar had made the calls after orders were passed with respect to the conduct of Kurle and Nedumpara. "Thus, it is clear that an attempt is made to frame this Court, as this Court had passed order against Mr. Vijay Kurle," it concluded while ordering police probe in the matter. Meanwhile, Justice Jamdar also ordered that the present case be placed before the Chief Justice so that it can be assigned to a different bench..Public Prosecutor HS Venegavkar along with Additional Public Prosecutor AS Gotad appeared for the State of Maharashtra.Advocate Subhash Jha appeared for advocate Mathews Nedumpara.Advocate Nicky Pokar along with advocate Ghanshyam Upadhyay represented advocate Partho Sarkar..[Read Order]
