File picture of Sanjay Bhandari. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday (April 22, 2025) informed a Delhi court about a U.K. court denying the extradition of Sanjay Bhandari to India. Mr. Bhandari, a defence consultant, wanted on charges of tax evasion and money laundering, has cited the “unsafe conditions” in the Tihar Jail in Delhi.
Mr. Bhandari’s name has also cropped up in the ED’s ongoing probe in a money laundering case against Robert Vadra, brother-in-law of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
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The submissions were made before Special Judge Neelofer Abida Perveen during the hearing of a money laundering case against Mr. Bhandari and others. The Central agency also submitted that its application to declare Mr. Bhandari a “fugitive” is currently pending before another court and hearing of the same is scheduled for May 3.
Mr. Bhandari’s counsel in the past had opposed the ED’s plea seeking to declare him a “fugitive”, stating that his stay in the U.K. was legal since his extradition to India was denied by the London high court.
The U.K. court in February allowed Mr. Bhandari’s appeal against his extradition citing poor and inhuman conditions in jails in India. He claimed that in India he would be at “real risk” of extortion, accompanied by threat or “actual violence” from other prisoners and prison officials.
Published – April 22, 2025 10:23 pm IST