Justice Madhav Jamdar of the Bombay High Court suspects a plot by lawyers to frame him after suspicious calls to his wife. He has ordered a police investigation into the matter.
In a recent development from the Bombay High Court, Justice Madhav Jamdar has ordered the police to investigate a series of suspicious phone calls made to his wife.
These calls were allegedly an “attempt to frame” the judge after he had earlier passed strict orders against two lawyers. The matter has raised serious concerns about interference with the judiciary.
The calls were made by advocate Partho Sarkar between April 22 and April 24, 2025, and one earlier call on October 29, 2023.
Justice Jamdar revealed this information on April 29, 2025, and linked the calls to a court order he had passed earlier on April 9, directing the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa to begin an inquiry into the conduct of another lawyer, Vijay Kurle.
Sarkar, who reportedly made the calls to Justice Jamdar’s wife, is said to be closely associated with Kurle. He had called several times, offering to urgently buy a flat jointly owned by Justice Jamdar and his wife, which had been listed on an online property portal.
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The judge disclosed that Sarkar contacted his wife repeatedly on April 22 and 23, speaking about purchasing their Mumbai flat.
Justice Jamdar then personally spoke to Sarkar the next day.
“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.”
Following this conversation, the judge checked his wife’s phone and found that the caller was an advocate named Partho Sarkar.
Even though Justice Jamdar had identified himself as a sitting High Court judge during the call, Sarkar did not reveal that he was a lawyer. A missed call from Sarkar the following day further raised doubts.
Taking these incidents seriously, the judge issued the following direction in his April 29 order:
“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.”
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Justice Jamdar noted that these calls came shortly after the Court passed an order on April 9, 2025, against advocate Vijay Kurle in Civil Revision Application No.189 of 2025, where Kurle was accused of behaving unprofessionally and had requested an adjournment on the day a judgment was to be pronounced.
The Court also took note of the conduct of another advocate, Mathews Nedumpara, a close associate of Kurle. During a court hearing on April 17, 2025, shortly after the order against Kurle, Nedumpara made some inappropriate statements in court.
“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.”
According to the court’s findings, Nedumpara said that the Court insulted him by asking him to take a seat, and went on to say that he was not a “slave of the Court” before leaving the courtroom without seeking permission. The court staff had to call him back.
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Justice Jamdar added that Sarkar’s suspicious calls to his wife came soon after these incidents.
“Thus, it is clear that an attempt is made to frame this Court, as this Court had passed order against Mr. Vijay Kurle.”
The Court has now ordered a police enquiry into the matter and asked that the report be submitted to the Registrar General of the Bombay High Court. Further, the judge has also requested that this matter be placed before the Chief Justice so it can be assigned to another bench.
Public Prosecutor HS Venegavkar and Additional Public Prosecutor AS Gotad appeared for the State of Maharashtra.
Advocate Subhash Jha represented advocate Mathews Nedumpara, while advocate Nicky Pokar along with advocate Ghanshyam Upadhyay represented advocate Partho Sarkar.
This case highlights a serious concern regarding the safety and independence of judges. The investigation will look into whether the phone calls were a deliberate effort to influence or intimidate a sitting judge of the High Court, especially after he had taken strict actions against advocates for unprofessional conduct.
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