HC reserves order on Sanjay Bhandari's plea against 'fugitive offender' tag

New Delhi, Aug 21 (PTI) The Delhi High Court on Thursday reserved its order on a plea filed by UK-based arms consultant Sanjay Bhandari challenging a trial court's order declaring him a "fugitive economic offender".

Justice Neena Bansal Krishna heard the arguments on behalf of Bhandari and the Enforcement Directorate and reserved its verdict.

The probe agency contended that when the trial court's order was passed in July, the court was aware about an assessment order showing Rs 655 crore of property was surreptitiously acquired.

However, Bhandari's counsel argued the prosecution was initiated without completion of assessment proceedings and if the assessment was not complete, where was the reason to believe that the tax evasion was over Rs 100 crore.

Seeking to stay and quash the trial court proceedings, Bhandari's counsel said he would be rendered remediless the moment they declare him a fugitive.

The trial court on July 5 declared Bhandari a "fugitive economic offender" on a plea by the ED, an order that allows the agency to confiscate all the assets worth crores of rupees of Bhandari, whose chances to come to India have been virtually nullified after a UK court recently ruled against his extradition.

Bhandari's legal team, while opposing the ED's move to get him declared a fugitive offender, claimed its "client's stay could not be called illegal in the UK as he has a legal right to reside in the UK and the government of India is bound by the judgment of the UK court... Bhandari is legally living there, and declaring him a 'fugitive' in that scenario is legally wrong".

The trial court said the "extradition attempt may have failed, but it will not make the accused an angel or immune from prosecution for the violation of Indian laws".

Bhandari (63) fled to London in 2016, soon after the I-T department raided him in Delhi.

The ED filed its first chargesheet against Bhandari in 2020. It filed a criminal case against Bhandari and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in February 2017, taking cognisance of an I-T chargesheet filed against him under the anti-black money law of 2015.

The agency is probing Bhandari's links with Robert Vadra, the businessman husband of Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. PTI SKV SKV AMK AMK