File picture of Sanjay Bhandari. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
A Delhi court on Saturday (July 5, 2025) declared U.K.-based arms consultant Sanjay Bhandari, wanted on charges of tax evasion and money laundering, a fugitive economic offender.
Additional Sessions Judge Sanjeev Aggarwal of Tis Hazari court issued the order for declaring Mr. Bhandari a fugitive under the provisions of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act (FEOA) of 2018.
The orders came on an application moved by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is probing the money laundering charges against Mr. Bhandari and others. This will now enable the central agency to confiscate the assets owned by Mr. Bhandari, the worth of which runs into several crores.
The ED last month had appraised the court about the U.K. Court denying the extradition of Mr. Bhandari, 63, to India, citing the unsafe conditions inside the Tihar Jail in Delhi.
According to the agency, he fled to London in 2016 soon after the Income Tax (I-T) department raided him in Delhi due to tax evasion.
His name also cropped-up during the investigation of a money laundering case against Robert Vadra, husband of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the ED claimed. The agency filed the first charge sheet in this case in 2020, followed by a supplementary chargesheet in 2023 in which it alleged that Mr. Bhandari “acquired” a property in London in 2009 and got it renovated “as per the directions and funding given by Mr. Vadra”.
Mr. Vadra, however, denied owning any property in London and termed the accusations levelled by the ED a political witch-hunt against him.
Published – July 05, 2025 01:58 pm IST
