Sanjay Bhandari, a consultant in the defence sector wanted in India on alleged tax evasion and money laundering charges, began an appeal in the High Court in London on Tuesday against his extradition order. The 62-year-old businessman had won permission to appeal against a November 2022 Westminster Magistrates' Court ruling clearing his extradition earlier this year. His lawyers began making their arguments in the case, which is listed for a three-day hearing this week with the judgment expected in the new year. Lord Justice Timothy Holroyde and Justice Karen Steyn began hearing representations from barristers James Stansfeld and Edward Fitzgerald at the Royal Courts of Justice on three main grounds of appeal whether the bar for criminality had been met in the English jurisdiction, whether a prima facie case had been made and whether the accused faces a risk of violence in an Indian prison. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), appearing on behalf of the Indian authorities, will ..
The accused, through his lawyer, has moved the court for the cancellation of the NBW against him in the case
The Indian team will be headed by a senior officer from the MEA. Some meetings have also been scheduled with UK officials to seek pending information on the seized assets of the wanted fugitives
The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday alleged that Robert Vadra, son-in-law of former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, "renovated and stayed" at a London property which is a "proceeds of crime" in a money laundering case against alleged middleman Sanjay Bhandari. Bhandari fled to the UK in 2016 and the British government approved his extradition to India in January this year acting on the legal request made by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The two federal agencies are probing charges of money laundering and tax evasion against the businessman for holding alleged undisclosed assets abroad. This is the first time that the federal agency has named Vadra in this case. The ED issued a statement stating that it has filed a fresh charge sheet in this case against C C or Cheruvathur Chakutty Thampi, a UAE-based NRI businessman, and UK national Sumit Chadha. Thampi was arrested in this case in January 2020 and the ED alleged he was a "close associate" of Vadra. Tha
British Home Secretary Suella Braverman has ordered the extradition of Sanjay Bhandari, an accused middleman and consultant in arms deals, to India to face charges of tax evasion and money laundering
He is wanted in India for money laundering, kickbacks in arms deal and tax evasion during the UPA government
The CBI also carried out out searches at the residence and office of Bhandari in connection with the deal
Bhandari is alleged to have moved to London via Nepal giving a slip to the Delhi police