Sanjay Bhandari, a UK-based arms consultant, has been declared a fugitive economic offender by a Delhi court on the plea of the Enforcement Directorate (ED). His chances of returning to India were ruled after a UK court, recently, ruled against his extradition. The Delhi court order comes as a shot in the arm for the ED, which can now confiscate Bhandari’s (63) assets in India running into crores. He fled to London in 2016, soon after the Income Tax (I-T) department raided him in Delhi. The ED filed a criminal case against Bhandari and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in February 2017, taking cognisance of the I-T department charge sheet filed against him under the anti-black money law of 2015. The agency filed its first charge sheet against him in 2020. It has also been probing Bhandari’s links with Robert Vadra.
