PMLA case: ED seizes assets of fugitive defense dealer Sanjay Bhandari

New Delhi: In a significant action against fugitive defense dealer Sanjay Bhandari, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets belonging to Bhandari as part of the ongoing money laundering investigation. Bhandari fled India in 2016 after a multi-agency investigation was launched against him for tax evasion.

ED has taken possession of a commercial property allegedly belonging to Bhandari in South Delhi’s Panchsheel Park. According to the agency, the property is registered in the name of SB Hospitality and Services Private Limited, which belongs to Bhandari. However, the company along with its other entities has now been struck off from the records of the Registrar of Companies and is no longer in existence. The ED investigation is based on an FIR lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for various offenses punishable under the Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act.

The ED said it was taking over the properties because it believed there was a ‘reasonable possibility’ of Bhandari’s properties in India being illegally taken over by land grabbers, despite finding that Bhandari had ” Tried to separate your assets by creating “backdated documents”. The agency had in September served eviction notices to the concerned entities attached to the Panchsheel Park property, stating that ‘until further orders they are prohibited from transferring or charging the property by way of sale, gift, pledge, pledge or otherwise. And has been banned.

Indian government is trying to extradite Bhandari
The Indian government, through authorities, is fighting a legal case for Bhandari’s extradition from the United Kingdom. Acting on the request of ED and CBI, the UK government approved Bhandari’s extradition to India in January this year. Bhandari is also being investigated for his alleged involvement in defense deals and alleged possession of classified defense documents.

According to the investigating agency, Bhandari has fled to the UK and has been declared a proclaimed offender by a special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court in a case related to alleged holding of undisclosed assets abroad.