Thursday, the Delhi High Court threw out Sanjay Bhandari, an arms dealer based in the UK, challenging his being called a “fugitive economic offender” in the money laundering case. Justice Neena Bansal Krishna simply said, “The appeal is dismissed.” The full explanation of the decision isn’t available yet, but it does support a decision made by the trial court on July 5, 2025.
Background and trial court ruling
The trial court had declared Bhandari a fugitive economic offender after the ED started the process. This gives the ED a lot of power to seize and take ownership of property connected to the money from his crimes, including property in other countries.
The court said that calling someone a fugitive economic offender can be a way to force them to return to India, by going after their property and legal rights. Also, while they have this “fugitive” label, they aren’t allowed to start or respond to lawsuits in India.
Arguments before the high court
Bhandari’s lawyers said the ED acted too soon because a final tax assessment (AO) hadn’t officially stated he’d avoided over 100 crore rupees in taxes. They said the ED was mostly relying on a communication from the income tax department from July 2019 and didn’t have enough proof when they started the fugitive offender process.
The ED, represented by additional solicitor general SV Raju and special counsel Zoheb Hossain in the High Court, responded that a final AO isn’t necessary to begin the fugitive offender designation. They referred to a 2020 AO that supposedly showed about 196 crore rupees of income he hadn’t reported and tax he hadn’t paid.
Parallel probes and the extradition history
Bhandari is under investigation in many cases. The ED, the Central Bureau of Investigation, the income tax department, and Delhi Police have all looked into him for suspected money laundering, breaking rules about foreign money, and violating laws against having undeclared money. They’ve also investigated whether he broke the Official Secrets Act.
Bhandari left India in 2016 and Interpol issued a “red notice” for him in October 2017. The UK arrested him in 2020 after the UK Home Secretary at the time approved requests to send him back to India under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and the Black Money Act. He was released on bail, and a court in Westminster (London) said in 2022 he should be sent back, but in 2024 and 2025 UK courts cancelled or rejected parts of the extradition procedure.
Allegations, assets and legal fallout
The money laundering investigation began with a complaint to the income tax authorities and involves property in London and land in India. Investigators have connected parts of the case to a large deal to buy things for the military, and also to property deals made overseas that are being examined for potential money laundering.
Because Bhandari is now a declared fugitive economic offender, the ED can take assets from him anywhere in the world and he can’t defend himself in civil cases in India. The lower court made it clear that just because he isn’t sent back to India doesn’t mean he won’t be prosecuted, and the High Court essentially agreed with that by rejecting his appeal.
Potential next steps and wider implications
Now that the High Court has rejected his appeal, the ED can continue seizing assets and taking other actions allowed under the fugitive economic offender laws. Bhandari could go to the Supreme Court, but it’s generally hard to get a fugitive economic offender order changed unless there is new legal reasoning or new evidence.
This case shows how the authorities use ways of identifying financial crimes to get results across borders when getting someone sent back to a country is difficult. It also reveals the conflict between how prosecutions are done in India and the results of cases in foreign courts in complicated investigations that happen internationally.
