ED files fresh chargesheet against Sanjay Bhandari in money laundering case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday filed a fresh charge sheet against alleged middleman and arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari, currently based in the UK, and others as part of a money laundering investigation against them, official sources said.

The supplementary prosecution complaint has been filed in a local court and under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.

The agency has named Bhandari, his relative S Chadha and NRI businessman C C Thampi in the charge sheet, the sources said.

The court is expected to take cognisance of this complaint later this week.

The first charge sheet against Bhandari was filed by the ED in 2020.

 

Bhandari is stated by the ED to have "absconded" to the UK in 2016 and he has been declared a proclaimed offender by a special PMLA court in the money laundering case linked to possession of alleged undisclosed assets abroad.

The UK government approved Bhandari's extradition to India in January this year, acting on the legal request made by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation which are probing charges of money laundering and tax evasion against Bhandari for holding alleged undisclosed assets abroad.

The ED filed a criminal case of money laundering against him and others in February 2017, taking cognisance of an Income Tax Department charge sheet filed against him under the anti-black money law of 2015.

His alleged links with Robert Vadra, the businessman husband of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, are also under the scanner of the ED.

In October, the ED has issued eviction orders and taken possession of a costly south Delhi property as part of this probe against Bhandari.

The agency is also probing his alleged role in another money laundering case linked to alleged corruption in the purchase of 75 Pilatus basic trainer aircraft for the Indian Air Force (IAF) in 2009.