Varsha Gohil and Bhadresh Gohil
A 23-year divorce fight between an Indian-origin couple in the UK has concluded with a court awarding Varsha Gohil £6.6 million after years of litigation over a concealed £28 million fortune.The dispute began in 2002 when Varsha Gohil filed for divorce from her husband, Bhadresh Gohil, citing adultery and unreasonable behaviour. At the time, she accepted a financial settlement worth £270,000 along with the family’s Peugeot, The Sun reported.Varsha later became convinced that her former husband had not fully disclosed his wealth during the divorce proceedings. Under UK law, both parties must provide a complete account of their assets and income when a financial settlement is being decided.In 2007, she returned to court seeking to overturn the original agreement after gathering evidence that she believed showed Bhadresh had concealed part of his fortune.The case took a dramatic turn in 2011 when Bhadresh was convicted of money laundering and forgery. The former solicitor was sentenced to 10 years in prison, while the Crown Prosecution Service froze assets worth around £28 million that investigators said had been hidden across the world. The legal battle then shifted to a dispute over whether those assets should be treated as part of the couple’s marital wealth.Varsha’s challenge ultimately reached the UK Supreme Court. There, judges considered her case alongside that of Alison Sharland, who had raised similar allegations that her former husband concealed assets during divorce proceedings. The ruling allowed both women to reopen their financial settlements and pursue new claims.Despite that victory, the financial dispute remained unresolved for years. Difficulties faced by the Crown Prosecution Service in tracing and recovering assets meant a new High Court hearing did not take place until 2023.At that hearing, Bhadresh argued that the frozen fortune was not his and therefore could not be included in any divorce award. Varsha maintained that the wealth had been accumulated during their marriage and should be considered when dividing the couple’s assets.The Crown Prosecution Service argued that the money represented the proceeds of crime and should remain subject to criminal recovery proceedings rather than being distributed through the family courts.However, Mr Justice Williams ruled that prosecutors had failed to prove that the entire £28 million originated from criminal activity. He found that some of the assets came from legitimate businesses that existed during the marriage and therefore formed part of the couple’s wealth.The judge awarded Varsha £6.6 million and delivered a scathing assessment of her former husband, describing him as “pervasively dishonest”.In his ruling, Mr Justice Williams said Bhadresh’s portrayal of himself as a hard-working family man who had been treated unfairly was “so very far from the truth that it is hard to comprehend how he can put it forward”.The decision brings to an end one of Britain’s longest-running divorce disputes, closing a legal battle that lasted more than two decades.
