HC dissolves marriage of chef-cum-restaurateur Farrokh Khambata

The Bombay High Court dissolved chef Farrokh Khambata's marriage after he deserted his wife, allegedly forged her signatures for loans, and fled to the Philippines.

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court has dissolved the marriage of one of the city’s top chef-cum-restaurateurs, Farrokh Aspi Khambata, after he deserted his wife and allegedly fled to the Philippines after obtaining loans by forging her signatures.

Mumbai -20 July 2012-Chef Farrokh Khambata at Amadeus Restaurant in Mumbai.HT photo by Anshuman Poyrekar. (HIndustan Times)

Khambata and his wife, Dilshad, were known to be a prominent couple in the city’s food circles. They got married in October 1997 according to the Parsi Zoroastrian rights and customs at the Colaba Agiary and had a child in February 2001.

Dilshad, a 48-year-old consultant, had filed the divorce petition as a last resort after all attempts to bring about an amicable resolution failed. She alleged that he subjected her to cruelty causing grave mental trauma and emotional anguish. According to her petition, although the couple lived in the same house, they had been sleeping in separate bedrooms since June 2014.

She claimed that in August 2022, Khambata left India and moved to the Philippines without informing her or asking her. She alleged that he deserted her without any valid reason and was involved in a relationship with another woman there. She also added that he had adopted a girl child in Manila and was providing financial and emotional support to the child and her mother.

Dilshad also accused her husband of taking loans worth around ₹2.68 crore from nearly ten banks by forging her signatures on loan documents. She alleged that he had misappropriated ₹2.75 crore belonging to his 90-year-old father, leading to more police complaints against him.

Despite several attempts, Khambata could not be served a notice since he had shifted to the Philippines and therefore his wife’s divorce suit was adjudicated by the court in his absence.

A single judge bench of justice Kamal Khata accepted the 48-year-old woman’s assertions that her husband treated her with cruelty and had, without a cause, deserted her. “A marital relationship that has progressively deteriorated into bitterness serves only to inflict cruelty on both sides,” said justice Khata.

The judge dissolved the marriage, observing that compelling the parties to maintain the façade of such a broken marriage would amount to injustice. The court also granted Dilshad a one-time alimony of ₹3.5 crore after noting that she had already exhausted her entire life savings towards funding her son’s education and repairing matrimonial home after a fire. The court also took into account that she was facing legal cases from banks in Bengaluru and Kolkata due to her husband’s fraudulent actions.