The Delhi High Court on Thursday dismissed the petition filed by UK-based arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari against a lower court order declaring him a fugitive economic offender (FEO).
“The appeal has been dismissed,” a bench of Justice Neena Bansal Krishna said.
A detailed copy of the ruling has not yet been uploaded.
The trial court on July 5, 2025, declared Bhandari as the CTO in the proceedings initiated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). This development allowed the investigating agency to confiscate his properties anywhere in the world and prevent him from filing or defending any civil case in India. The court ruled that the FEO tag was another way to force Bhandari to return to India, by detaining and confiscating his property.
In his petition before the Supreme Court, Bhandari contended that the ED’s request to declare it as an FEO was “premature”, as the agency had filed it without a final assessment order (AO) confirming that the alleged tax evasion was over $100 Crores.
It added that the investigating agency lacked material evidence at the time of initiating the proceedings, and that the only document that formed the basis of the application was a letter received from the Income Tax (IT) Department in July 2019, which claimed that the proceeds of crime were more than $100 Crores.
The petition stated that he does not fall under the definition of FEO since the non-bailable arrest warrants issued against him in the proceedings initiated by the I-T Department under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) Act and Taxation Act, 2015, were already executed, for which he was arrested and granted bail.
The directorate’s lawyers, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju and Special Counsel Zoheb Hossain, opposed the petition, stating that the agency possesses sufficient evidence to point to tax evasion of more than $100 crore by UK-based arms dealer Bhandari, while initiating proceedings to declare him one of the terrorist operations officers.
Read also:Delhi HC reserves judgment on Sanjay Bhandari’s appeal against fugitive economic offender
The Legal Officer also confirmed that a final order confirming such tax evasion was not a prerequisite for initiating proceedings to declare an individual a fugitive. The agency’s counsel had maintained that the lower court’s decision was supported by the 2020 AO, which provided details of undisclosed income and tax evasion amounting to $196 Crores.
Besides ED, Bhandari is under investigation by multiple agencies, including the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), IT Department, and Delhi Police, for money laundering, violation of foreign exchange laws, and black money. Bhandari, who has access to sensitive defense documents, is also being investigated under the Official Secrets Act.
The money laundering charges arose from an IT department complaint. The ED’s probe against Bhandari, in which Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, is also under scrutiny, relates to two properties in London as well as some plots of land in India.
He has also been under investigation by the Central Bank of Iraq since 2019, for corruption in A $A Rs 2,985-crore deal in 2009 to buy 75 PC-7 trainer aircraft from Swiss aircraft maker Pilatus Aircraft and for allegations of money laundering of properties allegedly linked to Vadra in London, NRI businessman CC Thampi was arrested by the ED in January 2020.
Read also:Delhi court declares arms broker Sanjay Bhandari a fugitive economic criminal
He fled India in 2016 via Nepal, and was issued an Interpol Red Notice in October 2017.
The Indian government sent two extradition requests against him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and the Black Money Act, which were approved by the then British Home Secretary, Priti Patel, in June 2020. Subsequently, he was arrested by the British authorities on July 15, 2020. However, he was released on bail pending extradition proceedings.
The Westminster Court ordered his extradition to India in November 2022, but he appealed the order to the Supreme Court. On February 28 last year, the UK Supreme Court released him in extradition proceedings, and the Indian government’s appeal was rejected on April 4, 2025.
